The Lost Girl
by Mandalorian Writer
Summary: The Second Giant War is over but troubles are just beginning for Annabeth Chase. After faking her death and going into hiding Annabeth finds herself in the company of some troubled, yet brilliant, teenage gods. Will the fate of the world be changed forever? Or will the creatures seeking the Blood of Olympus to raise their primordial overlord plunge the Earth into eternal darkness?
1. Prologue

**The Lost Girls**

Prologue

It was raining again today. It had rained then too. These were Piper's thoughts as she trudged up the hill towards the senate, towards the scores of half-bloods who had arrived from both Camp Half-Blood and the city of Camp Jupiter to pay tribute to those who had fallen just two months prior. Everything was quiet, save the droplets that hit puddles with sad monotones. No ghosts to be seen, no nymphs in the fields, not even preparation for the war games that took place every week. Not a trace of life to be seen but the girl who walked alone in silence, mud clinging to her trainers. There was a light on in the senate window. A lone figure in the steady downpour that mirrored Piper's mood. The door was open slightly; she could see it now, but the ones who had done so were nowhere to be seen. Furthering the gap just enough to squeeze herself inside without notice, she slipped through the ranks of Roman and Greek demi-gods that lined the walls, past the rows where the satyrs sat, down to the platform where six demi-gods stood.

Nodding politely to the long brown haired girl in a purple cloak, she took her place beside the blonde haired, blue eyed boy she had long associated with comfort and peace.

The crowd held its breath.

"Today, we Greeks and Romans, our camps united, acknowledge the two month anniversary of a tragedy…" Reyna's voice was clear and devoid of emotion, reaching the farthest corners of the hall. "Our battle with Gaia was tough on us all, and our losses will weigh heavily on our shoulders for years to come… but no amount of wishing and wanting will repair the damage that has been done to the seven brave demigods who risked everything to bring us together."

She turned in Piper's direction.

"We thank the daughter of Pluto, Hazel Levesque. We thank the son of Mars, Frank Zhang. We honour the son of Hephaestus, Leo Valdez. The daughter of Aphrodite, Piper McLean. The sons of Zeus and Poseidon respectively, Jason Grace and Percy Jackson."

The demi-gods in question bowed their heads in recognition as their names were spoken.

"But one among their number was stolen this time two months ago…"

Piper fought the tears that welled up in her eyes and clutched Jason's hand tightly. The sound and sight of the explosion running through her mind.

"I ask that you raise your swords, with me- to Annabeth Chase."


	2. Trouble at Camp Half-Blood

Chapter 1- Trouble at Camp Half-Blood

It was a normal day at camp. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the satyrs chased the nymphs through the strawberry fields and the climbing wall had been set to lava mode. It was lunchtime now and Piper and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin were filing out of the arts and crafts cabin after creating several pieces of makeshift jewellery and staying away from the muddy clay because it might damage their perfect skin. Piper, of course, had not minded the clay in the slightest but the moment she had laid hands on it her siblings had demanded they return to their cabin after the lesson to 'cleanse her'. She had no idea what that meant, but if they thought for one second that they were going to get in the shower with her then she would scalp them with Katoptris.

Just as they were about to walk up the path to the cabin area, Piper's boyfriend Jason dropped out of the sky in front of them. Several of Piper's half-sisters squealed.

"Hey, Pipes." He greeted with a warm smile. "How was arts and crafts?"

"Messy." She replied, holding up her clay covered hands. "On our way to the cabin to clean up before lunch."

"We're going to cleanse her." Drew spoke up, having become much more agreeable since the war.

Jason frowned. "Cleanse her? What does that mean?"

"Don't ask." Piper grumbled eager to avoid the potentially lethal fate that awaited her in the Aphrodite cabin. "Let's go and talk somewhere else."

They separated from the other children of Aphrodite and walked down to the canoe lake. A nymph crossed their path with a particularly young and brisk satyr following her. The nymph let him get within a foot of her and vanished in a spattering of flower petals, leaving the poor goat to dive headfirst into a boulder on the side of the path. He went limp on the floor.

"Is he okay?" Piper asked worriedly. She'd never seen a nymph attempt to kill a satyr like that before.

"He'll be fine." Jason said, continuing forward as though nothing had happened. "That fawns been following the nymphs around here for weeks all day and night. They can't even sleep if he's around because he keeps bothering them. Mr D's threatening to kick him out."

"Oh," Said Piper. "I didn't know Mr D cared enough to take action against a satyr."

"Only when the nymphs are in danger," Jason smirked. "That's how he ended up here in the first place."

They continued down the path through the forested area until they arrived at the canoe lake. The bright sun had turned the water a deep blue that was so clear you could see right down to the sand beneath it. Several water nymphs were playing in the centre of the lake and splashing each other with merry glee and giddy laughs. Jason led her around the beach towards the wooden pier where the boats were tied together and lashed to poles to stop them from floating away. At the very end of the pier, where Piper herself had once conversed with the water nymphs to discuss transportation to Camp Jupiter, sat a black haired boy in an orange camp T-shirt and new jeans. Percy Jackson.

Piper and Jason shared a look.

"How's it going, Percy?" Piper asked whilst lacing her voice with charmspeak. These days Percy held his emotions so close to his chest that the toilets could explode and no-one would have spoken to him yet. You couldn't even leave him alone with his thoughts anymore.

"Thinking about her," Percy mumbled, staring into the water. "It happened two months ago today."

Beside her, Jason shifted uncomfortably. Percy was talking about Annabeth and whenever that happened some not-so-natural disaster would occur in camp. Last time it had been a minor earthquake near the climbing wall which sent lava spewing everywhere and almost killed the campers who were on it at the time. Fortunately, no-one had been permanently wounded but there had been an undertone of fear and caution in people's eyes whenever the saw Percy after that. Piper had heard from Annabeth before her death that Percy's darker abilities had been brought out in Tartarus and the possibility of his girlfriend dieing. Now Annabeth really _had_ died and Percy was getting worse and worse every day which meant Piper had to put on the charmspeak and find out how to deal with his problems before something irreversible happened and Percy was sent for trial in the Roman senate. Many centurions, aside from Hazel, had threatened to bring him in for quarantine if he didn't pick himself up soon but two months was hardly enough time to heal a broken heart. Piper had to find a way to stop Percy from destroying camp and get over Annabeth's death all whilst dealing with her own sorrow at the death of her best friend.

"I know, Percy." Piper said softly. "We all miss her."

"More than anything," Jason agreed. "But maybe dwelling on the past is keeping _you_ in the past too. You should remember Annabeth with love and affection, not spend the rest of your life destroying the plumbing. Leo's threatening to strike."

That had been a few weeks ago. Percy had seen something that reminded him of his deceased girlfriend and torn apart the pipes beneath Camp Half-Blood which the Hephaestus Cabin spent twelve days repairing. Leo had brandished his spanner like a weapon and furiously berated Percy, calling him a bunch of names Piper had never even heard of before and threatening to have Calypso smack the son of Poseidon if he didn't pick up his game. It had been very tense between the two of them since Leo had brought Calypso to camp for a pit-stop and Percy, now a bachelor, had been looking at her in a way that Leo claimed was 'not appropriate'. In reality, Percy had been remembering how he had turned Calypso down for Annabeth and felt saddened by her death but Leo did not know that. No-one had spent this much time moping when _Leo_ was dead.

"I'm-… I'm sorry," Percy wheezed, dropping his head into his hands. "I can't stop thinking about it. The war was over, we'd won, and then…"

Piper knew what he was talking about. It had been about four days after Gaia and the giants had been destroyed. The Romans had just departed from the borders of Camp Half-Blood and the campers had gone to bed for the night. All was quiet and peaceful and the harpies were on patrol. Then, with no warning, there had been a massive explosion outside. Piper had run outside in nothing but her PJs to find the Athena Cabin ablaze. Orange flames licked the roof and smoke soared into the sky. Its armoury had been blown across the courtyard between the cabins and the glass had melted. Everywhere campers where screaming and running about and attempting to fight the fire with limited success. Percy himself had come racing out of his cabin, causing it to rain and used his abilities to cover the cabin in water but the flames soared even higher.

Several hours later, when the cabin had been reduced to a black husk of burn wood and scorched earth, they discovered the remnants of a powerful bomb beneath one of the bunks that had mixed Greek fire with propane and magic to create an unstoppable blaze that killed everyone inside and left no bodies to bury. The Romans had come hurriedly back over the border once they received word and searches for survivors were conducted.

No-one made it.

Later, when the council meetings between heads of the remaining cabins had been held, it was not difficult for them to come up with a host of reasons for why such a brutal attack would be carried out. It could have been disgruntled monsters seeking revenge for the recovery of the Athena Parthenos (but why did they spare Reyna?) or it could have been a Roman bomb planted during a stealth attack that was forgotten to be deactivated. That had been dismissed as well. Eventually, they all realised that in order to attack a powerful force you needed to outwit their strategists. The children of Athena were the best strategists that both demi-god camps had and upon conclusion of the meeting soldiers were sent out to every nook and cranny of Camp Half-Blood to try and find those responsible or any other traps that had been placed. To Piper's despair, they had found nothing.

The worst news, even worse than the attack itself, was the announcement of Annabeth's death. Nico Di Angelo had been able to sense the deaths of all those within the cabin and could personally guarantee that Annabeth had perished. Hazel, through streams of tears, also confirmed this as she had felt it on the way back to Camp Jupiter. Percy had been devastated by the news as he had previously searched all night for Annabeth and since he had been told of her death he had never been the same.

Piper intended to help fix him as best she could.

"What do you say to lunch, Aqua man?" Jason asked. "You'll feel better with a full stomach and Tyson's coming over today."

Percy lifted his face out of his hands at the mention of his brother. Tyson had been a real comfort to him since the murder of the Athenians.

"Okay," He said, hauling himself up to his feet. "Okay. Let's um… let's eat." He tried for a smile but didn't quite manage it. At least his mood was improving.

Piper washed her hands off in the lake and followed the two boys back up the path towards the dining pavilion. The satyr who had crashed his head into a rock was nowhere to be seen and Piper couldn't help but wonder if he'd woken up himself or been dragged away by the harpies for dinner. That was highly unlikely since the harpies weren't awake in daylight hours and Piper suspected that his fellow satyrs had simply taken pity on him and got him out of the sun. Even if it _was_ September this was New York and the temperature didn't really drop till October. The only difference from summer was that most of the other campers had gone home for the school year and it was a lot less crowded at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Chiron greeted them as they entered the pavilion.

"Jason, good to see you. How are the altars going?"

"Good." Jason said. "We've done shrines for Janus, Hecate, Hebe, Kympoleia, Triton…"

"Yes, yes," Mr D interrupted, sloshing his diet coke around in the can. "You've been building shrines for the traitorous minor gods. Good job. Now sit down and leave me alone."

Piper frowned. Not every minor god Jason had listed had played a part in the Second Giant War and most of them were now completely loyal to the Olympians. This must have been about that _other problem_ that her mother had mentioned. Many of the half-bloods from both camps who had been visited by their parents were aware that there was a new problem the Olympians were refusing to speak about and many thought it was about the attack on the Athena Cabin in July. Piper couldn't say for certain _what_ it was they were in a fuss about but she knew it couldn't have been that serious if Hera was not messing with her life and ordering some deadly quest to stop it. Then again, Athena had seemed pretty mad on their last visit to Olympus and everyone was complaining about minor gods so it must have had something to do with them. It seemed that there would never be a stable relationship between the Olympians and their subjects.

"Well, that's interesting," Said Chiron, trying not to give Mr D his most suspicious look. "Take your seats at your tables and we'll get started."

Jason and Percy bustled off to sit at their lonely tables and Piper had to squeeze into a space at the head of the Aphrodite table. Most of her siblings had opted to stay for the school year as there were now so many monsters running around New York that it was taking a lot of time and effort for the more combat ready demi-gods (the Ares cabin) to get rid of them. Clarisse had been spending entire weeks out on the streets with her siblings as they hunted down every pack of monsters they could find.

Once everyone was settled, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet.

"To the Gods!" He announced.

"To the Gods!" The campers repeated as their meals appeared before them and each table rose to scrape the best pieces into the hearth for their godly parents. Piper threw in almost half of her salad and mentally pleaded for her mother's guidance. If she couldn't even hold a conversation with Percy about his feelings, how was she supposed to help him move past them? It all seemed hopeless.

Piper continued to ponder her dilemma all the way through lunch. It was like a nagging itch she couldn't get rid of. She'd spent many hours coming up with speeches to convince Percy to move forward with his life and was finding her own caught up in his problems. This was no way to help Percy, or herself, deal with Annabeth's death and the only option left from this point was a policy the children of Aphrodite liked to call 'tough love'. You had to tell the person in mourning that they were going nowhere through their sadness and had to pick themselves up if they wanted to move on in life but it had always been a last resort for Piper. She couldn't imagine having to tell one of her friends that they _had to_ move past a stage of grief. That would be just about the hardest thing she'd ever done.

Just as lunch was ending and the dishes were whisked away by harpies, a son of Ares decked in full battle armour came running into the pavilion.

"Dracaenae!" He announced. "Two hundred Dracaenae just outside our border! Clarisse says to bring artillery!"

The campers began scrambling about, racing out of the pavilion in search of armour or unsheathing weapons and making straight for Thalia's Pine Tree without a moment's hesitation. Piper leapt to her feet and forded her way through the crowd towards Jason amidst Chiron's shouts of "Campers to battle positions! Swords at the ready!" and managed to grab his hand and hold onto him in the ensuing chaos. There had never been such a thing as _two hundred_ monsters on their doorstep, only when Gaia attacked, and now demi-gods were searching for vials of Greek fire, celestial bronze weaponry and drawing up plans for battle as they made their way towards the enemy upon their doorstep.

"We've got to get out there." Jason said and Piper nodded her agreement. It was high time these monsters learned to respect Camp Half-Blood.

Together, they flew into the air and darted towards the magical borders where the true extent of the problem met Piper's eye. A lot more than two hundred Dracaenae where at the border now and there were other figures with them. Tall humanoids in black cloaks wielding stygian iron blades waded through the crowd, slashing and hacking at every demi-god that crossed their path. Piper had never seen anything like it.

"Land down there!" She called into her boyfriend's ear and pointed at a spot near the Golden Fleece where Peleus the Dragon was roaring and breathing fire into the oncoming crowd of monsters.

They hit the ground running and Piper, drawing her Boread sword, charged into the Dracaenae and began to freeze, shatter and stab every monster she could get close to. The cloaked figures were in the thick of the crowd, wading their way towards one spot as a well-oiled machine, programmed specifically for killing half-bloods. Piper slashed her sword across the bodies of five Dracaenae at once and watched with mild satisfaction as their bodies froze mid-scream and tumbled into a pile of frost on the grassy floor. Then, as the other campers from the dining pavilion came charging across the border to face their enemies, she saw something that made her blood curl and face go white.

There, in the middle of the group of cloaked shadows, stood Percy.

He was fighting much better than he usually did, Piper realised immediately. It was almost as good as his style before he'd gone dark and desperate which was still a _lot_ better than the fighting of anyone else at camp. But even as Piper watched Percy return to his former glory, it all began to fall apart. One of the figures managed to find an opening in Percy's defence and slammed the boy in the side of the head so hard that Piper could hear the dull thud from the other side of the battle field. She tried to wade through the battle to help him but was deterred when more and more Dracaenae began to cross her path until an impenetrable wall of snake legged monsters lay between the demi-gods of Camp Half-Blood and Perseus Jackson.

Beside her, Jason attempted to break through them with his winds but more took the places of those who were blasted away and the campers found themselves being steadily forced back over the border. Somewhere to her right, Nico Di Angelo had raised a platoon of skeleton warriors that were beating down every snake lady that dared come near them and a small path began to form in the monsters ranks. Piper raced over with adrenaline increasing her speed but as she looked up to check on Percy, and make sure that he was right where she could get to him, she saw his unconscious form hoisted over the shoulder of a hooded man as the group turned and fled the battlefield. Piper gave one last shout for Jason before something large and blunt slammed into her side and the world went black.


	3. Blood of Athena

Chapter 2- Blood of Athena

Percy could not see. His eyesight had gone pale and blurry and his ears were ringing so loudly it hurt. Every time he swallowed his ear drums flared and head pounded in protest at the tiny movement. The ground beneath him was damp and made of dirt that was cold and stuck beneath his fingernails. His right temple, which had been struck with the hilt of a sword, stung in the air and droplets of blood dripped down the side of his face and onto his neck. Even without his vision Percy knew that he must not have looked good.

He stayed still on the ground as his vision came into focus and the ringing faded from his ears. There were voices in the room.

"- not working," A high pitched voice hissed somewhere to Percy's left. "This is not compatible."

"It _must_ be compatible," Another high pitched voice insisted. "The blood used to raise a primordial can also raise our lord. Keep trying."

"We have tried three dozen times now!" The first voice interrupted. "The boy's blood does not work. It took two to raise Gaia. We should not have killed all the Athenians."

Percy tried not to jerk up at the mention of Athena's children. These people had killed them?

"Twas not meant to be that way," Yet another voice spoke up. "The others interfered. They wanted revenge. If it had gone as planned then we would have been able to salvage enough blood to complete the template. A child of Athena and a child of Poseidon. That is what raised Gaia and it is what we need to raise _him_."

There could now be no doubt in Percy's mind of what was being said. These creatures, whatever they were, served some kind of being that needed the blood of Olympus to rise just as Gaia had needed it in Athens. And if there was one thing Percy was certain of, it was that Gaia's rising had been the worst thing to happen to him and could very well have meant the destruction of the world and rise of the most evil race of giants in existence. They'd caused him so much pain and suffering, he'd been pushed around by Hera, Leo had died and come back to life and then when he'd thought it was all over and he could enjoy life with his girlfriend she had been killed in an explosion.

The explosion that _they_ had caused.

Percy's vision went red and anger coursed through him, giving him strength and the speed needed to fight those more powerful than he was. If he hadn't been so angry, perhaps he would have realised that attacking people who were more skilled and more powerful than he was was a huge tactical error.

Riptide appeared in his pocket.

"Are you certain?" asked the other. "You saw that book. Perhaps we do not need two. Perhaps we only need the one."

"We have the boy," The first voice continued. "With him we can exact other plans. His power will become ours and then-"

Percy didn't let them finish.

Quick as a flash, he snatched the pen from out of his pocket and leapt to his feet as the cap fell to the ground where he had lain. The figures that had been speaking, four in cloaks with one holding a red stone just smaller than his palm, whirled around and shrieked like vultures in shock and anger. Their cowls were pulled low to hide their faces and just touched their chins which should have made it impossible for any humanoid to see. Clearly, if they were trying to use blood to raise some sort of powerful being that had been sleeping for thousands of years, they were anything _but_ human. Their swords looked much more threatening in the dim light and Percy vaguely noted that he was in some sort of underground lair.

He slashed at the one closest to him and slammed down on the head of another before the creatures managed to gather their bearings and draw swords to challenge him. Percy struck out at the chest of the figure holding the stone and felt a shockwave of force travel up his arm as he locked swords with the monster. He gasped in pain and jumped backwards, shifting his arm to try and keep the blood pumping. The two he had hit with his surprise attack drew their swords and rushed at him which was a lot scarier than it had been on the battlefield with a hundred campers ready to back him up. Knowing that he could not win this fight, but desperately wanting to avenge Annabeth, Percy turned and ran through the first tunnel he saw.

It got much darker as he ran and the glow from his celestial bronze sword was the only thing that helped him see. The tunnel twisted and turned and stooped low into the earth before climbing back up again at a steep slope. Despite the distance and tiring path, Percy's fear motivated him to keep running and the screams like wounded birds behind him only helped to keep him moving and not slow in his stride. This lair, he saw, was made almost entirely of earth as the roof was made of dirt and roots that crumbled and fell onto Percy's shoulders as he ran. The floor was stone that had not been polished and looked freshly carved from what Percy knew was an incredibly old passage kept alive only by these evil creatures. The walls varied in their materials as different ores, minerals, stones and mud met his eye and Percy was sure he'd seen a vein of celestial bronze as he tore down the tunnel.

After a while, he found himself at a particularly steep stairway going upwards and took the stairs three at a time while keeping his sword at the ready. There were so many stairs that Percy wondered if it was actually a route to the surface and forced himself to climb faster and hope for escape bubbled up inside him. The ceiling above him opened up into a wide cavern and thin layers in the ceiling shone moonlight down onto him as, finally, the stairs ended and Percy found himself in a large room that had a gentle breeze blowing through it and thorn bushes growing through the walls. This, he knew, was his only chance for escape.

A shriek sounded behind him.

Percy spun around to find that the four cloaked figures that had taken his blood, as well as three others, had followed him all the way up the stairs and had cornered him in the room.

"Be still, son of Poseidon." One hissed at him. "There is nowhere to run."

Percy raised his sword and steeled his nerves.

"You killed Annabeth Chase." He said.

The creature tilted his head in mock agreement.

"Indeed we did."

Percy yelled in anger and charged the one who spoke, once again ignoring the severe tactical error that he had performed. The creature raised its gloved hand and caught Percy by the throat, hoisting him off his feet and squeezing his windpipe.

"Fool." It hissed before throwing him against the wall.

With a loud crash and dirt flying everywhere, Percy was sent straight through the wall and out into the night before colliding with a tree and slumping to the floor. The cloaked figures began to advance through the wall as Percy's vision darkened and as the ringing in his ears returned and the pounding of his head rose to entirely new heights, an array of silver arrows sprouted from the head of the leading black creature.

* * *

"Percy… Percy!... Jackson, wake up!"

Something soft whacked against the back of Percy's head and he jerked awake, adrenaline from his earlier fight not quite out of his system yet. He was lying in a familiar tent with silver fabric covering the walls, mats for sleeping on and a white wolf guarding the entrance. This was the tent of a Hunter of Artemis. Strangely enough, the thought that they had found him did not make him feel safe or calm him down. He wanted to find those beasts and kill them. Cut their heads off and throw them into the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean where the monsters could feast on their ashes. The fear he had felt earlier had transformed into something much different.

"Good you're awake." Thalia Grace, lieutenant of the Artemis, spoke to him. "Drink this; it'll make you feel better."

Percy pushed himself into a sitting position and tried to get up.

"I don't need a drink, Thalia." He growled as she stopped him from going further. "I need to find those guys and kill them."

The daughter of Zeus rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me that just because you got your butt kicked by some guys in cloaks that you're going on a revenge spree."

"Not revenge for me!" Percy protested. "You should have heard the things they were saying. Those are the ones who killed Annabeth! They blew up the Athena cabin!"

Thalia gave him a look and furrowed her eyebrows in uncertainty.

"Percy, what are you-"

"They killed Annabeth!" Percy insisted before shoving her away from him and getting to his feet. "I heard what they were saying when they thought I was out. They murdered her."

"Percy-"

"Is everything alright in here?" A girl asked as she walked in, giving Percy a cautious look. Her deep drown hair hung around her shoulders.

"It's fine." Thalia insisted as she got up from the floor, water bottle in hand. "But I need to speak to Lady Artemis."

"She's already waiting for you," The girl did not take her narrowed eyes off Percy. "Wants to know what happened to him."

"Thank you, Leah." Thalia said dismissively. "I'll make sure he gets there. Percy."

Stomaching the urge to douse Leah in a spout of water and race back to kill the creatures, Percy followed Thalia out of the tent and into the centre of the hunters' camp. It looked just as Percy remembered it, with wolves patrolling the outskirts to keep out monsters, a large fire in the centre where girls where skinning and cooking animals as well as crafting new traps for their more deadly opponents. There were a lot more hunters than there had been in any previous camp Percy had laid eyes on and he suspected that this must be one of their main encampments instead of an outcropping that would be created when they were out hunting monsters and needed to sleep.

There was a lot more moonlight shining down on the camp than any other place in the wilderness and Percy strongly suspected that this was because of Artemis' position as goddess of the moon which gave her certain influence over the light of the moon and meant places where she lived for most of the time would be more magnificent at night as a result. Every surface seemed illuminated with a soft white glow and Percy almost forgot his anger and dropped his ideas of tracking down every last one of those hooded creatures and slaying them to avenge his girlfriend.

Almost.

They walked up to the largest tent and ducked inside. There were more pelts along the walls now, most likely from the two wars that had been fought recently, and there were no live animals inside. Instead of sitting, an auburn haired teenage girl stood towards the back of the tent and turned to greet them as they entered. Thalia bowed first with Percy taking a few moments to do so as his continued focus on revenge impeded his thoughts. He found it difficult to remember that you had to bow to an Olympian.

"My lady." Thalia said respectfully.

"Thank you, Thalia." Said Artemis. "He seems much better than before."

"Not covered in dirt at least."

Artemis smiled in amusement before her face became serious and she turned to Percy. "What exactly happened down in the pit? I've never seen creatures like that before."

"Me neither," Percy said. "But I do know one thing about them. They killed Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" Artemis frowned. "Annabeth was killed in the explosion that levelled Athena's cabin and destroyed all of her children. I would have thought that the defences around your camp would be sufficient enough to detect creatures of dark magic such as these."

"Well I don't know how they got in," Percy admitted. "But I overheard them speaking. They planted the bomb so they could get into the cabin and salvage some blood."

"Blood?" Artemis asked. "What blood?"

"They said they needed the blood of an Athenian and a child of Poseidon to raise their lord," Percy remembered. "They were supposed to steal blood from one of the campers after the explosion but someone interfered and the explosion was bigger than it should have been. Apparently they wanted revenge for something."

"Athena has many enemies," Artemis said. "Even more due to the statue that caused pain for many. But tell me more about this blood they needed."

Percy, whose memory remained solid despite the time he was unconscious, recited all that he had heard from the cloaked figures during their conversation about his blood. He told of how his blood had not worked in the attempt to raise their master and how the monsters had argued about whose fault it was that they could not do it. His voice almost cracked when he told them about the explosion and how it had all been a set up to get enough blood to fit the template produced when Gaia had been raised at Athens. The blood of Poseidon and Athena. The creatures had been aggravated because they only had one half of their recipe and needed the blood of one of Athena's half-blood children to complete it but they had all been killed in their cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Percy was the only demi-god child of Poseidon who was still alive and his blood alone was not enough. Then they came to the subject of the stone.

"It was dark red and I couldn't see through it," Percy explained. "It looked kind of like a ruby. There were spaces that were smooth and others that were rough and uneven. They were doing something to it with my blood."

"A ritualistic object perhaps," Artemis mused. "Or some kind of vessel that would allow the properties of demi-god blood to be put to use."

"I didn't know such a thing existed, my lady." Thalia said.

"They are usually destroyed by the Olympian council whenever one is found. We'll have to track down the beasts again and recover it."

Percy blinked.

"You didn't kill them all?" He demanded incredulously.

"They were immune to our arrows," Thalia explained. "Only godly weapons could kill them."

"Which is why you will be returning to Camp Half-Blood for now," said Artemis. "If they really did put your blood into the stone then they could be granted new abilities and greater freedom. You said yourself they wanted your power to become theirs."

Percy frowned. His anger had disappeared halfway through his explanation of what had happened and had been replaced with a cold feeling of depression. After so much time spent contemplating who was responsible for Annabeth's death and feeling so dead inside that his powers had spiralled out of control and it had fallen to his friends to pick up the pieces, he finally knew the full story. Annabeth had not died because of Percy; she had died because of these creatures. Her status as a daughter of Athena had endangered her life for many years and had also been the cause of her death. The blood that had once run through Annabeth's veins could have been used to raise some being whose servants had taken it upon themselves to get it. Now she was gone.

"If these monsters have something that can utilize demi-god blood, shouldn't the other Olympians be informed?" asked Thalia. "They share their powers with their children and this stone could give those powers to other Gods."

"I shall inform them," said Artemis. "This is a very worrying turn of events. First the titans, then Gaia and the giants and now this. Zeus will not be pleased."

"You don't think he'll close Olympus again, do you?" Percy asked. The lord of the sky was not known for his reasonable way of thinking. His last solution to the destruction of the world had been to cut off communications between the Gods and their children.

"I do not think so," Artemis replied. "The birth of that idea was spawned from Khione's influence. Aside from that, he will not be eager to repeat the mistakes of the giant war though I honestly don't know what his reaction will be. This could spell disaster for all Olympians if our powers are stolen."

"But you don't have any children," Percy tried to be positive. "They won't be able to get your powers."

"I give magic to my hunters, Perseus Jackson. The same may hold true for my abilities if their blood is stolen and placed on the stone. Alas, we do not yet know exactly what the stone is for and could simply be a conduit from the servants to their master. Your use could have been for something entirely different but no less disturbing."

That didn't sound much better than having his powers stolen, Percy knew, but for the rest of the world it would be infinitely better if the stone was just for raising this guy and those who had it would be destroyed before they ever got the chance to use it. It would be at least a few decades before Athena got over the murder of her children enough to consider having any more.

"I shall think on this some more and make my way to Olympus," Artemis said. "For now, Thalia, I want you to set as many defences around our perimeter as possible. These creatures may return for another fight."

Thalia nodded.

"As for you Percy," Artemis fixed her eyes on him. "I shall send you back to your camp and hope that you stay there until more news reaches you. Thalia, you are forbidden from going on any more hunts until I return."

"What?!"

"You are a daughter of Zeus," Artemis said pointedly. "Your blood plus that of a child of Poseidon may be enough for the stone to raise this being regardless of whatever template was laid out by Gaia. Do you understand my orders?"

"Yes my lady." Thalia replied but did not look at all happy about it.

Percy was not happy about this either but knew that he had no choice. If these people were as dangerous as Artemis seemed to think they were then going back to Camp Half-Blood and alerting the demi-gods to what had happened was probably the best thing to do. But what was he going to tell them? He knew that they had killed Annabeth by planting the bomb in the Athena cabin but everything else was pure speculation. Had Percy really heard them talking about blood and raising Gods and using him for some selfish purpose that spelt disaster for the world? Only the Fates themselves knew. Or perhaps they didn't. Whatever it was that had been happening down there, Percy knew that it could not have been a good thing. Good people did not use dark magic.

There was one good thing they had discovered, at least. The creatures needed the blood of an Athenian, the blood of Athena, to make their stone work. And despite how much Percy had wished otherwise at times throughout the last two months, there were no demi-god children of Athena left in the world.

Not one.


	4. Annabeth Chase

_**There was a minor problem with uploading and the story was deleted. I've reposted it now.**_

Chapter 3- Annabeth Chase

Some things in life were absolutely crazy; lighting deodorant for a laugh, swimming with sharks, bungee jumping over a canyon and punching a God in the nose, to name a few. Something even crazier, Annabeth had decided, was jumping out of a plane at forty-five thousand feet without a parachute like she had just done because she was an idiot.

Why was she in the plane? There had been a shortage of money in her bank account and the search for a job that would pay well and allow her to leave without her identity being publicised had led to a man named Handsome. He was in _no way_ like his name suggested with the muddy green skin and straw-like hair and Annabeth strongly suspected that he had chosen that cover name just so people would call him handsome. Annabeth had decided to call him Ugly instead.

Ugly had been advertising a one time job that required a bounty hunter or otherwise to cover his back and drop into a highly secure building named Swirl Resort so they could steal back something that he had gambled away in a drunken game of poker. Personally, Annabeth did not want to do anything for a man whose name reflected his ego and smelled like rotten eggs in salt water but she needed enough money to disappear for a while. Ugly was promising several thousand drachmas to whoever successfully recovered his property and returned it to him. So, with a great deal of caution, Annabeth had agreed to his job offer with the fake name of 'Annie' and wrapped the mist around her face to distort her features. The choice of name wasn't great, she'd admit, but there had only been five seconds to come up with an alias and the simpler the better.

Still, it would have been nice if he'd remembered to bring parachutes instead of these crap wing suits that had no way of stopping unless the pilot was dead.

Annabeth free fell towards the ground at a hundred miles an hour and waited until she had reached the very top of the cloud layer to pull out her arms and have the wings catch the wind. She tilted upwards slightly and began pelting towards the Swirl Resort which was really living up to its name. The entire building was modelled after one big swirl that was tallest in the centre and got lower and lower as the spiral reached its end. In between the walls were gardens that all connected together via bridges and lifts would take people to different parts of the building. There was a variety of sun loungers and umbrellas taking up the space in the centre that suggested the resort was for adults and where the spiral ended, and a large gap should have been, a huge platinum wall had been erected to keep out intruders. On the tops of some of the walls were balconies and small plants that offset the metal exterior and gave the building a finite edge to attract visitors and Annabeth couldn't help but wonder how she was supposed to get in _with a_ _wing suit_ when simply pretending to be a guest and checking in would have been so much easier.

Ugly probably didn't want her coming out alive.

"Steer to the right," A voice in her ear commanded. "Through the blind spot in their cameras. Then hide in an enclave and change into civilian attire."

Annabeth would have rolled her eyes if she weren't travelling so fast. They had gone over Ugly's plan a thousand times now and he still insisted on acting like a military commander that Annabeth had to obey no matter what. This bounty hunting business was actually a _lot_ tougher than she'd thought it would be and if she got out of this job alive then she wouldn't be doing another one; it was in no way similar to the monster killing and God bamboozling that she'd done a few months ago. As a bounty hunter, you had to learn to navigate around untrustworthy clients and the immortals you dealt with were so much more dark and unpredictable than the Olympians and Gods like Hecate and Janus. The career was basically one huge death trap for the bounty hunter and the enemies of the client.

She was now right on top of the resort and, silently pleading that this would work, pushed her whole body back into a standing position just as a large gust of wind caught her and robbed her of the momentum gained from the drop. Annabeth twisted in mid-air, hit a button on her suit and grabbed the nearest thing she could find to stop herself from going splat on the ground. The wing suit, now hissing and glowing a dim green that was unnoticeable in the daylight, peeled away from her body and dropped to the ground where it hit a paddling pool and turned to dust. It had been designed with an emergency release that allowed Annabeth to get out of the suit in mere moments and left her in the clothing she had worn beneath it- a pair of faded jeans, trainers and red hoodie.

The thing she had grabbed onto, a drainpipe that led straight down to the ground more than twelve metres away, could not have been better for Annabeth to slide down and when her feet hit the ground with a gentle _thud_ not a single mortal looked up or gave her any notice. The mist was working. Unfortunately, it would not fool any monsters or magical creatures who were around which meant that if there were any in the outside area they had probably seen her and were on their way to apprehend her.

"Take the third lift on your left," Ugly continued to dish out orders like a general. "Grab a bag from the shop and make your way down to the basement."

Annabeth followed his instructions without voicing her dislike of him. Ever since she'd lay eyes on Ugly she'd gotten this feeling that he couldn't be trusted and should be avoided like the plague which she couldn't do because she needed money. The lifts were just glass boxes that travelled up and down the walls and Annabeth got off at the first stop for the basement would surely be accessed via a stairway and the shop was right beside such a staircase. This building had once of the most classic layouts Annabeth had ever seen.

"Get a medium sized bag," Ugly said. "My property isn't that big and carrying around an abnormally large or small one will just make you stand out. This way you will continue to blend in."

"I know," Annabeth grumbled under her breath. Once again he was just repeating the stuff he had already told her a thousand times beforehand.

She walked through the doors of the shop and out the other side, swiping a one strap black bag as she went and swung it onto her back as she reached the stair case. On the path leading downwards, a sign with the words 'no entry' had been posted over a closed door but it didn't appear to be locked. Annabeth strode towards it casually, acting as though she was allowed to go through this door, and pulled the door open just enough for her to slip through unnoticed and let it close silently behind her. The space she had entered, far from being as pristine as the rest of the resort, was almost completely barren with pieces of paper strewn across the concrete floor and metal shelves pushed against the walls holding a variety of items that did not belong in a mortal place of work.

Unable to help herself, Annabeth scanned the shelves for anything of value and found several sheets of celestial bronze, magical pieces of clothing and potions that she promptly stuffed into the bag before continuing onwards. If Ugly decided not to pay her for this then at least she'd have this stuff to survive off of for a little while and the magic clothes looked like they were designed for combat which would definitely come in handy in the long run.

There were voices up ahead and Annabeth stayed close to the wall to conceal herself as she inched closer to their source. The hallway led into a wider room, the basement, where a group of people where stood in conversation. Annabeth hid behind a shelf to spy on them and analysed each of them in turn. There were five people dressed in military uniforms and holding assault rifles that looked like they had been modified to fire celestial bronze bullets, a short bald man with a white beard and a greedy expression and, finally, a tall creature in a pitch black cloak that was frayed at the edges. Annabeth felt a cold feeling sweep over her as she laid eyes on it and backed up slightly in fear. What _was_ that thing? She couldn't see its face. It was holding some kind of red stone in its hand.

"You know the terms of our agreement," The cloaked figure rasped in a screechy voice. "Seal the agreement and the stone is yours. The power of the Olympians will be yours."

The short man rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Yes, yes, I shall seal the agreement. I swear on the River Styx to uphold your rule and obey your orders to destroy Olympus until my existence ends." He spoke so fast Annabeth could barely make out the words. "Now, if you would please…"

He held his hands out like he was dying and asking for water.

"Damn yanks," Ugly grumbled in her ear. "That was supposed to be _my_ stone. I've got to stop this."

"Wait," Annabeth whispered. "You were going to take down the Olympians?"

Her only reply was a massive explosion that rocked the building and made the earth shake beneath her feet. The entire room swayed from side to side and those who were standing in the centre of the room stumbled and fell. The ear piece let out a loud screech that forced Annabeth to rip it out and throw it down a drain. The cloaked figure, which was now revealed to be holding a fearful looking sword, dropped the stone which slid across the floor and stopped at Annabeth's feet. Without thinking, she scooped it up in her hands and placed it into her pocket. Neither Ugly nor these creepy freaks were going to get their paws on it again. Just to be safe, she ripped off all the equipment that Ugly had given her and destroyed it as the ground continued to quake. What the hell had he done?

"We're under attack!" One of the military guys shouted. "Sound the alarm upstairs! It's that thieving Dartos again."

 _So that's what his real name is_ , Annabeth mused as she shuffled backwards out the open doorway and darted back out the 'no entry' door. There was utter chaos upstairs.

Everywhere she looked mortals were running around screaming and waving their hands like murder victims in really cheesy horror films. There were more men in military clothing, all carrying the modified weapons, fording their way through the crowds and smashing through windows to get outside and shoot at what Annabeth knew had to be Ugly dropping bombs from his plane. Unwilling to be killed alongside the shady thing, Annabeth put on her most terrified face and ran with the crowds towards the exit. All the fire escapes were open and people were streaming out of the resort and into the city below and the military men were not even attempting to stop them. Their attention was solely on killing Ugly.

"Shoot him down!" A voice bellowed over the loud speaker. "Shoot him down!"

There was an even louder explosion up in the air and the sound of failing propellers told Annabeth that they had finally shot down Ugly and the plane was set on a crash course for the resort building. Not for the first time, she was glad that she'd abandoned ship as she sprinted out of the front doors alongside hundreds of other people and attempted to get as far away from the resort as possible before the plane smashed into the ground. Whilst everyone else ran down the main road, Annabeth stopped and ran down a tiny side road that was hidden by bushes and shrubbery that she had scouted out before the mission. On the road sat a caravan covered in graffiti that somehow managed to look in place beside the few other cars around it.

She ran up to the side of it and knocked on the door, trying not to show the immense relief she felt when it opened to reveal a grinning face so similar to her own.

"I told you so," The girl said, honey coloured eyes dancing with mischief.

"Shut up, Sabine." Annabeth grumbled as she climbed into the van and closed the door behind her. "Get us out of here."

Five minutes later, after breaking every speeding law in the country, they were driving down a countryside motorway in the sunny country of England. Yeah right. It had only been three weeks since summer had ended and Mother Nature had decided to make it known that there would be no more of the rarely appearing sun in the tiny country. Rain pounded down on the windshield and the road was already covered in huge puddles that sprayed everywhere when they drove into them. They had decided to obey the speed laws for the next few miles and Annabeth dug around in the bag she had stolen for all the goods she had stuffed inside and was trying to identify them with minimal success.

"If I could just see that stuff instead of listen to your grumbling, maybe I could help identify them." Sabine commented, one hand on the wheel.

"Eyes on the road." Annabeth replied as she studied a bottle with various inscriptions carved into it.

"You know sixteen year olds aren't meant to be driving, right?"

Annabeth ignored her.

Sabine was not known for being mature and reason took a dive out the highest window whenever she started getting emotional about something. Annabeth had found it very difficult at first to believe that _Sabine_ , with her multi-coloured hair and paint covered clothing, was her half-sister through their mother but it eventually sank in and now they were travelling together as siblings. The last children of Athena.

"How are we supposed to disappear now?" Sabine asked. "That was a complete disaster and everyone is going to be on high alert when they find out what happened. Why didn't you just steal everything valuable and take off?"

"I did steal valuable stuff," Annabeth protested, holding up the bag. "Magical items sell for tons of money."

"Yeah but only if we can find somewhere to sell them," Sabine reminded her. "Why couldn't you just steal something small and simple that we could barter off? Like a stone or a-"

"A stone."

"What?"

Annabeth fished the ruby like object out of her pocket and showed it to Sabine.

"I stole this from some creepy guy in a cloak. He said it would give his allies the power of the Olympians."

Sabine frowned in concern. She may not have been on good terms with their mother, having run away from home because of a disagreement between the two of them, but the Olympians were still the ruling Gods on Mount Olympus and so far there had been no other race of being that proved themselves better rulers of the world. This meant that they would either stay in power until some better Gods came along or be overthrown by those who were worse than them but much more powerful. This was something that Annabeth had always striven to avoid in the past but was not in a position to do at the moment. Being underground meant not getting involved in the affairs of powerful beings and the fate of the world itself had to be found by people other than her for once. Still, she hoped it wouldn't be the same people from last time. They deserved a nice peaceful life.

"How would it do that?" Sabine questioned. "It's just a rock. There doesn't seem to be anything special about it. It's not exuding any dark magic as far as I can tell."

Annabeth stared down at the stone the size of her palm. There really didn't seem to be a thing out of place about it but looks could be deceiving. Her gaze travelled down from the stone to a burn just above her wrist. It should have healed by now but Greek fire was so devastating and powerful that it would probably take at least a month or more to completely fade away. All of her other burns had disappeared now but this one had been the nastiest. When it was fresh, it had ran all the way down her arm and two of her fingers which had made it impossible for her to do anything with her left hand. At least there weren't any scars…

"Stop thinking."

Annabeth's head jerked up.

"What?"

"I can hear what you're thinking."

Of course she could. Annabeth continually forgot about her younger sister's ability to read her mind just like every other God on the planet could read the minds of mortals. It had been a chore, to say the least, to stop Sabine from being purposefully intrusive and keep her from voicing Annabeth's own thoughts to complete strangers they were trading goods with or met on the side of the road. One time this man had come up to them to trade and he was really very nice but Annabeth thought he stunk so bad anything he sold them would be considered damaged goods. Naïve Sabine had voiced this thought out loud and they had seen nothing of that man since which was probably a good thing since having someone track them down for revenge was not on Annabeth's to-do list.

"Whatever," Annabeth snapped as she put the stone back in her pocket. "We need to find a place to sell this stuff off. Any ideas?"

"We could always go to Astrid's," Sabine offered. "She'll buy magical objects."

"Astrid's our friend, Sabine. You give stuff to your friends for free and _especially_ friends who give us a place to sleep when we can't find anywhere decent to stay."

"Well she might know somebody who'll buy them or someplace where we can sell them. At the very least she'll be able to tell us what they're worth."

Annabeth sighed. She hated imposing on people when she should have been able to pull her own weight and get money for the two of them herself.

"Fine." She gave in at last. "We'll go to Astrid. It's much safer to be at her house than in any mortal hotel."

Sabine nodded and the speed of the van increased by at least fifty miles an hour.

Annabeth leant her head against the passenger side window and stared at the rain droplets running down the outside. Despite her unimposing nature, Annabeth seemed unable to do anything _but_ impose in the past two months as her emotional and physical health had been given a very severe shock in July when the fire that claimed the lives of every one of her siblings except Sabine, who had never been to camp before, left her in a state so near death it was a miracle she'd escaped the cabin and make off into the night. The reasonable thing to do would have been to find Percy and stay where it was safe instead of being constantly on the move as she was now.

But feeling so guilty it tore your insides apart often robbed people of intelligent thinking and Annabeth had fled to an entirely different place when she realised what had happened. It was all her fault that her siblings had died. If she had just listened to the warnings that had been given to her then she would never have been there that night. She would have been safely tucked away where no-one could find her or try to kill her and the demi-gods at Camp Half-Blood would continue their lives without any real tragedy's occurring. There would only be sorrow and wonder at the thought of the name Annabeth Chase and where she had gone.

Annabeth closed her eyes and tried to ignore the fact that it was nine in the morning and persuade herself to go to sleep.

It didn't matter what had happened now. You couldn't change the past. Once they got to Astrid's Annabeth would find a real place for her and her sister to live and get a real job instead of all this illegal stuff. It was a bad influence on Sabine.

"Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Is madness hereditary?"

Annabeth cracked an eye open. "Why?"

"Because I don't ever want to be as bonkers as you."

Smirking, Annabeth closed her eyes once more. "What makes me bonkers?"

"You don't want to impose at a best friend's house. That's what they're for."

Unable to stop herself, Annabeth started to laugh. "I thought that's what siblings were for?"

"Same thing."


	5. The Nightmare Begins

Chapter 4- The Nightmare Begins

Jason was on patrol around Camp Half-Blood's borders at four o'clock in the morning. It wasn't the best time to be awake but there had to be some people around to ensure that no Dracaenae or their cloaked friends returned and stole any more campers. There had been no word on Percy and all the searches had come up empty. In the past, the campers would have consulted their oracle to find out what to do and what was destined but Apollo's power of prophecy was _still_ down and, despite how good this might have been at times, it was very frustrating to not have any clue about the future.

So now, shivering in his sneakers and holding a torch for light, Jason stood very still in front of the main entrance to camp with three Ares campers behind him and a bunch of others out on patrol. The Ares cabin had taken the west, the Hermes cabin the east and both the Hephaestus and Demeter cabins were exploring out north in search of more enemies and dismantling all traps that had been laid as the monsters retreated. The moment they had gotten Percy, every soldier in the opposing force had disappeared back towards New York but searches of the city had found nothing. They were gone.

Piper and the others were sleeping peacefully in their cabins and Jason felt that it was his duty to ensure that there were no more disasters like the others that had taken place this year. First the Romans and Octavian arrived at the border, then all those monsters sent by Gaia followed shortly by the Old Dirt Face herself and the bomb that had blown up the Athena cabin and _killed_ his friend. Now these new creatures had shown up and stolen Percy without losing one of their number and vanished into thin air. Jason had been so infuriated by this turn of events that he had immediately volunteered to take the night shift patrol with the other cabins and took great delight when he saw that his gladius looked just as sharp and deadly as ever in the dark night.

A twig broke in the forest to his right and Jason snapped to attention.

"Who's there?" He demanded. There was no reply.

Behind him, the campers shifted in discomfort; Jason nodded to them reassuringly. He raised his gladius into attack position and slowly made his way towards the source of the noise. He'd wrapped the winds around him for protection and all the leaves and branches were blown out of his path as he advanced and stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of a figure wearing a pure black cloak sat on the ground before him. Jason raised his gladius and pointed it at the figures back, feeling reassured when the three campers standing guard with him came up behind him and readied their weapons to fight the creature.

"Halt," Jason said, pressing the point of his sword into its back. "Put your hands on your head."

The figure stiffed slightly in surprise and, very slowly, began to lift both of its hands towards its head and get to its feet. Jason had not asked it to stand.

"Stop!" He ordered. "Don't move."

The creature force halfway standing. Jason came up behind it and ripped off its hood, eager to finally see the beast that hid behind the hood, and stumbled back in surprise when an all too familiar face met his eyes.

"Percy?!" He exclaimed. "You… you made it! You're back!"

Percy grinned and stepped forwards into the light of Jason's gladius, shining light upon his features, and Jason realised that there was something slightly off about him. His hair, black and short, was slightly longer and did not stick up like it used to. His skin was the teeniest bit paler and the difference would not have been noticeable to those who were not friends with the son of Poseidon but Jason was; and he knew something was not right. The smile on Percy's face was cold and emotionless with a blank look in his normally vibrant green eye.

"Percy?" Jason asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"

Percy nodded and, faster than anything Jason had ever seen before, unsheathed a sword that had been concealed on his belt and impaled the son of Jupiter through the stomach. Pain that Jason had never felt before filled him as the sword was ripped out of his torso and he saw deep satisfaction in his fellow demi-gods eyes before he fell to the floor in a heap and found himself unable to get up or even scream for help. Through his eyes that were rapidly closing, Jason saw Percy cut down all three campers that had followed him and make his way down towards the border of Camp Half-Blood. As blood poured out of him and onto the forest floor, Jason's last thoughts were of Piper and how she could possibly defend herself when she lay unconscious from their fight with the Dracaenae.

They were all doomed.

* * *

Perseus strode down the hill unhindered and stopped as he came to the path leading to the centre of camp. So this was the famous Camp Half-Blood; the place that was valued so by Greek and Roman demi-gods alike. Pathetic. There weren't even any soldiers patrolling the inside of the border to make sure no-one managed to slip through and kill them all as he intended to do. Here was clear proof that everything he had been told was true; the demi-gods and Olympians alike were weak and useless when faced with power such as his. It was time to let them know just how pitiful their existence was.

Summoning his strength, Perseus caused the earth to rumble and geysers to erupt in the ground before him. The cabins, made of wood and other weak materials, began to crumble and fall as screams from inside began to fill the air. The earth shook harder and the arts and crafts cabin collapsed in on itself, unable to stand against the onslaught of such raw power. Trees uprooted and tumbled to the ground, blocking paths and cabin doors as various campers slammed into them and face planted outside in their desperate bid for freedom. When they saw him, and the cold grin upon his face, they paled in fear and began scrambling about but could not stand with the ground being ripped from beneath their feet. This was the part that Perseus had been looking forward to. The earthquake did not affect his balance and the half-bloods had no way of defending themselves from him.

He walked forwards at a casual pace to the nearest campers and beheaded one of them in one clean swipe. The others screamed some more and attempted to escape him. Perseus admired the silver coating of his blade for a moment, contrasting beautifully with the red blood that dripped off it, and mused about how this enchanted metal made the already magical stygian iron that much more powerful and even granted it the ability to break weaker blades made purely of imperial gold and celestial bronze. He would have to try that sometime.

Another two campers met their deaths at his blade as he continued forwards, never slowing for even a second as he cut them down without remorse. Perseus made his way towards the main cabin area, where the children of major and minor gods alike were screaming and flailing in terror, and walked up to the door of the first one in line. He would systematically make his way through every cabin, slaying every half-blood where they lay, and complete his mission by approaching the Big House and capturing Dionysus. The God of wine was nowhere near as powerful as the other Olympians and would be crushed beneath his boots by the time the raid was finished.

The cabins were barely standing by now as the earthquake continued and Perseus vaguely noted the sounds of campers escaping their cabins in the background as he performed his murders within the Hypnos cabin. All those who jumped the borders would be killed by his own men and Gods were forbidden from interfering in matters involving their children. He walked over to the next cabin where no-one had managed to escape yet and took great delight in the slashing of his sword and the _thunk_ of bodies as they fell to the floor. He dropped an incendiary grenade behind him as he left and the cabin burst into flames so similar to those of the bomb that had destroyed the cabin he now stood before.

The Athena cabin, for all it might once have been, was now a ruin of burnt pieces of wood and ash that had not been rebuilt for whatever reason the demi-gods had. Perhaps as a way to remember the tragedy that had befallen them and the loss of all their strategists who should have been taken out years ago by the titans and giants if either race had any brains between them. Unfortunately, there was one girl who had perished inside the cabin that had been vital to his masters' plans and without her there could be no hope of raising their lord to dominate the world and fully instate the policy of the strongest survive instead of this lovey-dovey nonsense that the demi-gods believed in. That wasn't honour, it was foolishness; and they would pay the price for it.

Perseus advanced on the Aphrodite cabin, filled with the children of the weakest magic on Earth, and felt cold fury sweep through him as he saw that almost the entire cabin was empty as its occupants had escaped. All except one. Piper McLean lay unconscious on the floor and it was clear from her position that they had attempted to pull her to safety but had been unable to do so before his arrival and decided to save themselves. How _unfortunate_. Perseus raised his sword to stab her but, before he could do so, a cloud of rose petals washed up into his face and blinded him temporarily as he swatted at them with his hand. When they had cleared, the floor where Piper had been was empty and Perseus knew full well that there was no way she could have gotten out on her own. Aphrodite, the most meddling goddess in existence, had taken her daughter to safety.

Snarling, Perseus stormed out of the cabin and quickly made his way towards the others in order to stop more godly meddling from taking place. Yet despite his speed, and despite the power of the earthquake he was sustaining, he found that more and more demi-gods were escaping from him. Either fleeing on their own initiative or being guided by their godly parents, the half-bloods were making their way into the forest full of monsters and not being killed by them. This made his blood boil and he gave a yell of pure rage which caused all sources of water to explode into the sky, making the shaking ground slippery and dangerous, and a twister of water slammed into the floor and destroyed everything in its path. Combine that with the fire that had now engulfed half of the cabins and it was pure and utter devastation. Not even the Olympians could save their children from _this_.

Thunder boomed in the sky above him and a bolt of magic streamed down from the heavens with the intent of destroying Perseus forever but before it could even reach him a translucent black shield appeared in the sky above him, absorbing the power of the magic and leaving him completely unscathed. His masters' effortless means of saving him. All around the camp, pegasi flew into the sky to safety and nymphs and satyrs alike could be seen fleeing for their lives. From the Big House in the distance, Perseus felt powerful magic being utilized by an immortal being and, before he could rush over to complete the plan, Dionysus and Chiron were gone.

The twister fell to the ground with a splash and the earth stopped shaking. The only noise that remained was the boom of thunder in the sky and crackling of fire from the cabins. It was strangely peaceful to him. Turning around to face Thalia's Pine, and noting that the Golden Fleece was missing, Perseus raised his voice for all to hear.

"I, Perseus Jackson, give you permission to enter camp!"

* * *

Jason's breathing was raspy and every part of his body stung with pain. There was some kind of heavy fabric wrapped around him to keep him warm and strength was returning to his limbs at an alarmingly slow rate. He could hear footsteps and muffled talking around him and the smell of medicine filled the air. It reminded Jason of a doctor's surgery and even in his half-conscious state he knew that something terrible had happened. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but he knew there was something nagging at him, crawling forward from the back of his mind as he strove to remember how he ended up in such a weakened position.

"Percy," A deep girl's voice growled. "Percy _bloody_ Jackson. He came over our border and killed _everyone_. He's handed Camp Half-Blood over to those _barbarians_!"

"Calm yourself, girl." Another deep voice, a man's this time, replied. "Things are not as they seem. That boy, whoever he was, may or may not have been Percy Jackson."

"What are you talking about? Did you see his face? It was him!"

"And yet at the time of the attack, Percy Jackson was with Artemis and her hunters right where we could see him. This is a very complex situation and I will not have you dishonour my name by causing me trouble. Go tend to your wounded!"

Jason's groan of pain went unnoticed as one of the speakers strode past him to do as the other had said. Images flashed before his eyes. A silver sword, a black cloak and cold smile, the screams of campers as they were cut down beside him- what had _happened_? Everything was fussy and he could not distinguish the noises that were being made around him. He felt a hand on his chest and more pain flared through his body, causing him to jerk about and groan in discomfort. The hand retracted somewhat in surprise and Jason found his shoulder being shaken.

"Jason." A familiar voice said. "Jason, open your eyes. We need to change your bandages."

Begrudgingly, Jason shakily opened his eyes to find a battered Will Solace standing beside him. They were in some kind of infirmary and it was filled to the brim with half-bloods who were wounded in the most gruesome of ways. Medics were bustling up and down the rows of demi-gods and through the open door Jason could see even _more_ wounded on stretchers being moved into another infirmary.

"What happened?" Jason croaked.

Will looked at him.

"We were attacked," He said. "We're not sure by what."

"What do you mean? How can you not know what attacked us?"

"Well we thought we did," Will admitted. "But then a bunch of us messaged our godly parents and they said otherwise. No-one knows what's going on."

"I don't understand. Where are we?"

"New Rome."

"New Rome?" Jason asked. He'd never seen this infirmary in New Rome before.

"Yeah, they had to build a bunch of new buildings for us to stay in. We showed up on their doorstep covered in blood and with you wrapped in the Golden Fleece. It's been three days and all it's really done is stopped you from dieing instead of healing the wound. I've had to apply nectar to it every twenty minutes just to stop the bleeding."

"Stop the bleeding..?"

Jason managed to lift his head up slightly and stare down at himself. His armour that had previously been worn was now nowhere in sight and his top and been shredded so cleanly that it could only have been done by a sword. Beneath it, Jason could see white bandages that were wrapped tightly around him but spots of blood were now seeping through and there was dirt and grime on his skin. The Golden Fleece was wrapped around the rest of him and its powerful aura ensured that not only did Jason stay alive but that everyone else in the infirmary was filled with healing energy. Jason groaned once more and gently placed his head back down on the pillow.

"Why aren't we at Camp Half-Blood?" He asked.

Wills face turned dark.

"Maybe we should wait until you're healed first-"

" _What happened to it?_ "

The son of Apollo sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's gone, Jason." He said. "Camp Half-Blood was destroyed."


	6. The Lunar Pirate

Chapter 5- The Lunar Pirate

Life at Astrid's was much more peaceful than life as a bounty hunter/thief/gun for hire/cheap labourer and everything else that Annabeth had worked as in the past two months. When the two of them had arrived, Astrid had kindly identified all of the magical items that Annabeth had stolen and sold them off accordingly whilst giving the profits to the girls. However, before they could get back to their caravan and take off once more, Astrid had offered them the chance to stay and live with her instead of visiting every time disaster struck. She even found a way to convince Annabeth to accept the offer by giving her stuff to do which eliminated any possibility of imposing.

So, for the past three weeks and four days, Annabeth had been helping to build a new section of Astrid's house so that both she and Sabine could become permanent residents. It was based on the same design as the rest of Astrid's house which was made entirely of wood and brass on the exterior and was built on the face of a cliff so that there were varying levels for different things and the lake washed up against the shore and sprayed salt water into your face if you stood on a balcony for too long. The mansion, for lack of a better term, backed onto a grass field that they were currently expanding into and was surrounded by a dense forest that was filled with all kinds of animals and creatures that you didn't find in England.

The reason these animals were here, Annabeth knew, was because they were in a natural phenomenon known as a magical pocket. Magical pockets were basically what the name suggested, pockets of magical energy, but they were also areas that could have any climate that was habitable and could be accessed from anywhere in the world because they were not tethered to any one place. They were kind of like spiritual plains, separated from the rest of the world by veils of powerful magic, and their borders were controlled by the beings that made them their home. This meant that Astrid could pick and choose who was allowed to enter her home and no pollution or humans could get in to destroy the paradise.

It had taken a long time for Annabeth to wrap her head around the idea that there were places such as these all over the world that floated around in the current of magic and harboured the most magical creatures that were in need of protection or a home away from the more destructive forces in the world.

Just like Annabeth needed protection now.

Currently, she was sawing through a thick log in order to make structural supports for the outer walls of the room she would be staying in and the sun was beating down against her as it reached its noon position. It was tough work to build such a large structure by hand but Annabeth was willing to persevere and Sabine could do most of the heavy lifting with her Godly strength, when she was actually _around_ that is. The extension of the house was going to have two bedrooms, an art room (so there would be no graffiti tagged around other parts of the house), a workshop and two toilets because Gods knew that the two sisters could not share a bathroom and be happy about it. They had what Sabine liked to call 'synchronised bladders' which basically meant that when one of them needed the toilet, the other would also need the toilet. This had been the cause of many fights over who got to pee first.

Just as Annabeth finished sawing through the log and put the saw down, Astrid came up behind her.

"Hey," She greeted. "Finished with this one yet?"

"Yeah I'm done," Annabeth replied. "Just needs to be decorated and then it can be put in place."

"I'll do that," Astrid picked up the saw. "We're gonna need more metal, though. Could you go down to the mine and get some?"

"Yeah I'll go. What do we need?"

"Copper and celestial bronze."

Annabeth turned and trudged down the hill they were working on. A river ran past the path at the bottom and there was a bridge a little ways down that allowed people to cross it. The sky was clear and the leaves on the trees were glowing with the light of the sun and shifted with the gentle breeze that had begun to set in. The mine was located on the other side of the land and it was a twenty minute trek just to get there. This gave Annabeth plenty of time to be alone with her thoughts and she could hear almost every movement from the animals in the forests nearby as she walked along their edges. There were trees almost everywhere in the magical pocket and life seemed to emanate from every place that Annabeth could touch. There were small streams of fresh water and huge lakes dotted about the place and, according to the map; the place that Astrid had claimed for her home spanned a length of _at least_ 400 miles in each direction. Needless to say that for just one person this place was _huge_.

As she walked, Annabeth thought on the stone that had so occupied her these past few weeks. It was the only item that Astrid had been unable to identify and there didn't seem to be a thing magical about it. The red colour had become much lighter for some reason and Annabeth could now clearly see her reflection in it. Whatever reason it had for the change, she did not trust the thing one bit and had kept it in her pocket for safe-keeping and to ensure that it didn't mysteriously disappear back to where it came from. There was something strange about it that she couldn't quite place and whenever she laid eyes upon it there was a strange feeling of danger that overtook her. Like there was someone watching her and the back of her neck was tingling as her body unconsciously registered the danger. It was for this reason that Annabeth had not taken the stone out to look at it for the past fortnight and was considering Astrid's offer to lock it away in an unbreakable box for the rest of eternity.

She walked over another bridge and took a shortcut through a very dense forest that cut five minutes off her journey. This really was a very beautiful place and incredibly different to the concrete cities that had served as human habitats for the past few hundred years. Annabeth found herself wishing not for the first time that the forests and plains of the world were not being destroyed to make way for mortals to live in them. They took away the beauty of the planet and crimes always seemed to flourish in urban areas which made their purpose of keeping humans safe rather redundant. She wished she had done more to help Grover on his quest to save the wild before her leaving. Some deer walked up to the bank of a pond that Annabeth was passing and stopped to have a brief drink before fleeing at the sight of her. It seemed even animals that hadn't been hunted were afraid of the sight of a human.

Finally, Annabeth came to the entrance of what appeared to be a dark cave with structural supports visible even from the outside. Inside were very dim lanterns that reflected light off the ore veins that replenished themselves every day and grew in all directions that made it very difficult to control their size. The celestial bronze veins in particular, which probably shouldn't have existed, were at the far back of the mine and covered most of the walls and ceiling so you could mine it for days and never get all of it off. There was a furnace in the centre of the mine, right beside a room that could be used for overnight stays with its bed and footlocker, and all ores that had been previously mined were stacked up beside it waiting to be smelted. A box had been shoved into the corner and had different sheets of metal sticking out of it at many different angles. Most of these sheets had been moved by Astrid to her forge already but there were clearly some that she had forgotten and Annabeth made a mental note to remind her to retrieve them in the future.

Fortunately, Annabeth could already see the ore of the metals that she needed stacked beside the furnace so she didn't have to break her back by hefting a pickaxe over her shoulder and mining them. Instead, she'd have to gingery place them inside the furnace and try not to get burned when she took them out or drop any of the liquidised stuff onto her shoe like she had done last time.

And she'd really liked those shoes.

Cautiously, Annabeth wrapped her hands around a huge chunk of celestial bronze ore and almost dropped it when she felt how heavy it was. Now she knew why it was refined by the god of blacksmiths. It took almost a whole minute for her to put the ore into the furnace, open the bottom of the snout that would allow the liquidised metal to flow out into a reinforced bucket and drag over the bag of coal that would keep the temperature high enough to meld the magical metal. She also put on a pair of goggles and rubbed incredibly powerful heat-resistant cream into her visible skin for protection from the heat. Annabeth muttered under her breath as she couldn't pray for safety without revealing her continued existence and steeled her nerves as she lit a fire inside the furnace, closing it back up very quickly so as to avoid the rising flames.

Annabeth then sat down on a bench a fair distance away from the furnace so that her lungs would not fill with smoke, that was magically absorbed by the walls, and dug around in the bottom of the lunch box that Astrid had built to provide food for anyone who was taking a break from mining or just needed something to eat. She couldn't help but smile when she pulled out a ready meal, already heated, and a bottle of water that looked so much cleaner than the stuff she'd bought from an off-licence back in England. The heat of the furnace had reached the required height by now and liquid celestial bronze flowed down the snout and into the bucket with a distinct sound that Annabeth chose to ignore as she started to eat. It would be a very long while before the bucket was full and she wanted to at least keep herself busy as she waited to move it to a cooling system and flatten it into an A1 sheet. She lifted her hand to the lantern nearby and twisted a switch that increased its brightness before hitting another switch beneath the bench that kept the heat and smoke away and filled her half of the room with fresh air.

This was one of the things that Astrid was so uncommonly good at- building things.

If Annabeth didn't know better, she'd say that Astrid was a child of Hephaestus with her skills as a blacksmith and ability to make just about everything; not to mention her pyrokinetic abilities that just screamed god of fire. But to be an immortal child of Hephaestus you had to be crippled in some way as the god would pass down these things to his children but was able to prevent it from happening to his mortal children who he could use magic to influence and create. Astrid was not crippled in any way and, with her blonde hair, blue eyes and soft facial features, did not look a thing like him. Annabeth had thus concluded that Astrid had some sort of relation to Hephaestus which gave her the blacksmith abilities and god her pyrokinetic ones from her mother's side. Perhaps from the south wind which could scorch things with its intense heat and set crops on fire.

Before Annabeth could consider the matter further, there was a loud bellow from outside that rocked the mine and almost made her fall of the bench. It sounded just like a conch horn, which should have been impossible as there were no ships here but Annabeth wouldn't put it past the other girls to build one and blast the horn 24/7 just to mess with people. Stuffing the rest of her meal into her mouth uncaringly, Annabeth got to her feet and sauntered outside waiting to throw the nearest object at Sabine for being a nuisance and sink her ship because it was an eyesore then force the younger girl to fish the broken pieces out the lake. Would that be considered too much?

However, when Annabeth got outside and opened her mouth to shout the worst swearwords she could think of at her younger siblings, she was left gaping and staring at the object that had appeared in the sky.

A two mast sailing ship with sails that peeled back across the length of it in triangular shapes that should not have been able to catch the wind but somehow managed to was floating right above the mineshaft. Its hull was brown and sleek which reminded Annabeth of acacia wood and there were many carvings and spaces along the sides which were obviously meant for canons but they had been closed shut and made a symmetrical pattern of wooden blocks along the ship. There was a cabin at the back with glass windows and standing beside the ships wheel, surrounded by the glare of the sun, was a figure dressed in a blue trench coat and white bottoms that had all of the straps and buttons in places that screamed _pirate_ so loud that Annabeth took a step backwards in caution.

The figure walked up to the side of the ship and leant over slightly to look down at Annabeth. It was a woman with flowing purple hair, cobalt eyes and a fair complexion. She was grinning with mischief that rivalled Sabine's.

"Ahoy there!" She called down. "I was wondering if you wanted to have a little chat with me?"

* * *

In her defence, Annabeth did put up a sizeable fight against the pirate crew when they jumped down from the ship and started dragging her aboard. She was fairly certain that she'd broken five of their noises, fractured a few ribs and pushed one of them into a pile of mud which, while not exceedingly painful, was still very damaging to a person's pride. Halfway into the kidnapping, one of the bigger pirates had seemingly had enough and hoisted her over his shoulder so he could carry her the rest of the way with very little resistance and got her right outside the captain's cabin within a tenth of the time it had taken for the others to get her to the halfway point.

Annabeth would have broken some of his bones too but he was almost seven feet tall and covered in muscles. Punching him would probably break _her_ bones instead of his.

He opened the door with one hand and shoved Annabeth inside with the other. There was a familiar locking sound behind her and Annabeth realised that she had spent way too much time in _locked rooms_. The cabin was sparsely furnished, like it didn't get used very often, and had several desks and chests of drawers shoved up against the walls. There was a pile of cushions just beneath the windows but no bed and no trophies which was very rare for pirates. In the centre of the room, there was a large table with several chairs and sat on the opposite side of it was the woman that Annabeth had seen earlier. They were inside and no wind was reaching them but her purple hair was still flowing as though a gentle breeze was passing by. She couldn't help but wonder why that was.

"Well," Said the woman, looking amused. "You certainly put up quite a fight. I see Chiron trains his campers well."

The mention of the centaur was like a dagger in Annabeth's heart.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "How did you get here?"

"I am the Lunar Pirate," The woman smiled. "And my ship can sail through the magical currents. That is how I came to be here. I was told by a friend that you have a stone in need of identification."

Annabeth's blood went cold. The pirate knew about the stone? She'd only told Astrid and Sabine of its existence.

"Ah, yes," The Lunar Pirate continued. "Astrid is a lovely girl. I'm sure she's only trying to help by telling me about this stone."

" _Astrid_ told you?!"

"Indeed. We have been friends for a while now and she is fully aware of my knowledge of magical artefacts. Would you mind if I had a look at the stone?"

Annabeth gave the woman a very sceptical look. This pirate showed up, had her men _drag_ Annabeth onto the ship, claimed to be a friend of Astrid's and now wanted Annabeth to hand over the stone that supposedly would grant people power that was equal to the Olympians. In any universe, this was an incredibly _bad idea_.

"Uh…"

The door burst open.

"Don't shoot!" Sabine cried, barrelling forwards into Annabeth. "I'm Luna's friend!"

Behind her, a group of sailors suddenly halted in their tracks with weapons drawn and looked to their captain for confirmation.

"She is," Luna agreed. "And you can let Astrid go too."

"Thank you." Astrid's distant voice said as her figure came into view. "Your crew really needs an education on who to shoot."

"You should get on that." Sabine agreed.

"Wait," Annabeth held up her hands in a 'stop everything' gesture. "You really _are_ friends with her?"

"Of course we are," said Sabine. "Didn't she tell you?"

"She did, but she wasn't very believable."

"Dammit Luna," Astrid said. "You were supposed to be working on your people skills."

"I did work on them!" Luna protested. "No-ones died in weeks! There was a bit of maiming with that business in New Guinea, I'll admit, but other than that-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just tell us what the stone is."

"I haven't looked at it yet."

"For the love of- Annabeth give her the bloody stone!"

They spent several minutes examining the stone. Luna's lips had pursed in worry upon hearing Annabeth's story of the cloaked figure and his words about the power of the Olympians. When she heard about the change of colour it had undergone recently her features softened slightly and turned curious instead of cautious. She held the stone up to the light and scrutinised it for a moment before placing it on the table between them all.

"That is the Stone of Amare." Luna announced.

"The Stone of Love?" Annabeth questioned, remembering the Latin phrase.

"Indeed. Not the most inventive name in the world but people seem to be having a lot of trouble with that these days."

"So the thing that is going to bring down the gods of Olympus," Sabine said. "Is a love stone."

"Don't sound so underwhelmed. Love is a very powerful force in the world."

"But it's a stone!" Astrid protested. "How can _one stone_ bring down Olympus?"

"It can't." Luna said. "The figure was lying when he said those things. It probably wanted to get rid of the stone and focus on using the others."

"Others?"

"Yes. This stone is part of a set, each one representing core emotions that give them power and can be utilised by people who feel these emotions strongest. In the old times they were known as The Motus Set. You had to steer clear of the stones because you never knew which emotion they represented."

"Then how do you know that this is the love stone?" Annabeth asked.

"Because you have kept it in your pocket."

A blank stare. "What?"

"Listen," Luna picked up the stone as she talked. "No-one knows what emotions something is feeling until they react in a certain way. This stone is the same. The figure you spoke of would most likely want to _get rid_ of this stone because it could not use it. It does not value love and therefore does not feel it. That means the stone is completely useless to him which is why he wanted to get rid of it. For people like you who do feel love and understand its power, however, this stone would become very powerful. It has changed its colour because its magic reacted with your feelings. I would assume that spending so much time with your sister has made love a near constant presence within your heart."

"Love Sabine?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "Impossible."

"Hey!"

"Whatever the reason, this stones allegiance is now to you. It will remain so unless it finds someone whose love is stronger or until it is destroyed." Luna held the stone out to Annabeth. "For your own safety, I would suggest hiding it until further notice. This stone has not broken its connection to the others in the set and there is one stone that you most certainly do not want to find you."

"What? A hate stone?" asked Annabeth.

"No." Luna gave a sad smile. "A blood stone."

"A blood…?" Annabeth trailed off. "Oh."

"Indeed. But if you remain here then you will be completely safe and the stone will not be able to use the connection to see you. If you leave with the stone before the connection is _broken_ , however…"

Annabeth did not reply. If she left the magical pocket with the stone then it would reveal that she was still alive to the people who had previously hunted her down and killed her family. Now she knew what they had that made their dark and twisted plots for power possible. A blood stone. Annabeth wished she could destroy it now and put an end to the whole thing.

"Hang on," Sabine chirped in. "Annabeth was holding the stone _before_ we hid at Astrid's. Won't they have been able to see her when they checked the connection?"

"Not necessarily," Luna said. "The stone had not allied itself with her then and it is not some kind of looking glass. They will have sensed a _presence_ , certainly, but they will not know that it is you."

"So we're safe then."

"Is anyone really safe?" Luna pondered. "There may not be any people around to hurt you but there are plenty of objects and animals that might cause you harm. You are safe from _them_ , let's put it that way."

"And who are _they_?"

"I'm not sure."

"How can you not be sure?" Astrid demanded. "You're a _primordial_. You can do whatever you want!"

"You're a primordial?" Annabeth asked, flabbergasted. "I've never heard of a goddess named Luna. Unless you're actually Selene…"

"No, I'm not Selene. That's just mortal confusion of language," Luna waved her hand dismissively. "Not important. Now, you three go back to your home and stay there until I get back."

"Why?"

"Because I need to find out who these cloaked people are and I also know someone who you would benefit from meeting."

"Who?"

Luna tapped her nose knowingly. Just like a typical goddess she was giving a cryptic answer and didn't seem to care that there were two _other_ goddesses who didn't understand what she was on about. And why on _earth_ did she get to claim that people didn't have imaginative names for things and then call herself _The Lunar Pirate_.

If there was ever a time for karma to kick in…


	7. A Trap

Chapter 6- A Trap

They spent a whole month doing nothing but renovations and crafting. Sabine had insisted on painting the walls of the house and Annabeth had stolen all the spray cans to stop any graffiti from finding its way onto the walls of the bathrooms, workshop or, god forbid, her bedroom. She made sure to be very explicit about _what_ colour she wanted her bedroom to be painted and had left to tinker with the items in one of Astrid's many forges where she could make as much paint thinner as she liked in case bedlam broke out. Surprisingly, Sabine had actually _listened_ to her and Annabeth returned to find the bathrooms painted blue, like the sea, and her bedroom walls now coloured white in a perfect finish. _Unfortunately_ , Sabine had decided to add a certain _flare_ to her work and there were now very realistic images of flowers, hills, clouds (on the ceiling) and spirals of every colour dotted around her bedroom and Annabeth couldn't bring herself to hide them with a wardrobe or desk when it was obvious how much effort had been put into them.

The majority of the days after the completion of their work were spent lounging in the sun outside and laying in the grass, throwing frisbees, skipping stones over the lakes and chasing Astrid when she came up behind them and shoved Annabeth in. Well, Annabeth did the chasing. Sabine just stood and laughed so hard she collapsed on the ground and rolled into the water by mistake.

"I meant to do that," She protested as they sat drying themselves in the sun.

In their spare time, which was now _all_ the time, they would surf the internet on Astrid's modified computer and look for cool things that they could be doing. One particular interest that both Annabeth and Sabine shared was adventure and there were now so many opportunities for treks up mountains and exploring caves and natural wonders that they could barely contain their excitement. They had finally disappeared which meant they could do whatever they wanted and the minute they met this 'new person' that Luna had been talking about they were going to pack their bags and head for the nearest mountain they could find- probably Everest. There were, of course, several issues with simply packing up and going because of the dangers involved with the climb and so on which was why they were attempting to convince Astrid, who could literally breathe fire, to come with them to eliminate the danger of frostbite. Then they just had to worry about falling, being caught in an avalanche/earthquake, losing each other, breaking their necks and about a hundred other things. Sometimes the ambition to do something amazing was laced with danger.

"When is this new person showing up?" Astrid asked one day as they all sat on the roof of the house drinking coke.

"Don't know, Luna didn't specify a time." Annabeth replied.

"Well she should of."

"I'm not so sure primordials have a sense of time," Sabine mentioned. "Kronos wasn't exactly around when they were born, was he?"

"Don't mention the name." Annabeth grumbled.

"Why? Because he stole your boyfriend's body?"

"He wasn't my boyfriend!" Annabeth shook her unopened coke can so viciously that she could feel the bubbles through the metal and opened it right next to Sabine's face. The minor backsplash was worth it to see the look of horror on her siblings face.

The days steadily became tenser after that. Sabine was energetic enough as it was and not having anything to do to _express_ that feeling must have been nothing short of torture. Painted images and graffiti started to find their way onto the walls and ceilings of the entire house, not just their section. Astrid had been walking on her balcony that overlooked the sea and spotted what was unmistakeably a painted flaming lion on the wall. It took several hours to track the younger girl down and force her to remove it. Annabeth was also having trouble finding stuff to do which wasn't good for her ADHD brain and she would often find herself sprinting through one of the many forests because she had nothing better to do. She even got so bored that one time she decided to camp outside the house and build a den for herself so that she would have something to do for a change. This idea was quickly squashed when Sabine found the den and set it on fire by accident; it was tough explaining _that_ to Astrid as she put it out.

Finally, at the end of October, they received a call from the landline at three in the morning and Annabeth was nominated to answer it because 'gods need their beauty sleep'. When she picked it up and _tried_ not to sound as though she wanted to wring the neck of the person who was calling, her attention was spiked when Luna's voice answered in a much more awake tone than should have been possible. Once the conversation was finished, she slowly walked back to her bedroom and tried to go to sleep before Sabine noticed her. No such luck.

"Who was it?" A muffled voice asked.

"Luna. She says her friend will be here at eight in the morning."

"Eight? Who gets up at eight?"

So at seven o'clock the next day, Annabeth was awoken by the sound of Sabine and her guttural war cry.

"MORNINGS ARE FOR SLEEPING!"

 _Time to get up_ , she thought.

It took much less time than Annabeth had been expecting to get up, get dressed, sit at the kitchen table for ten minutes with horrendous bed hair as she tried to wake her body up with coffee and then go back upstairs to shower and sort her hair out for once. Just as she managed to clumsily dry herself and put her clothes on, only to take them off and dry herself _again_ because she missed a huge wet patch, Sabine appeared in the doorway wielding a hairbrush.

"C'mere, I'll help you." She said tiredly.

Annabeth gave her a look. "I thought you were going to stay in bed today?"

"Alarm clock wouldn't stop beeping. Was on other side of room."

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders and went to put her pyjamas in the wash basket as Sabine came up behind her and began to brush her hair. Normally, things like this would never be seen in their household, but today they had been forced to wake up at seven which meant they were both half-conscious and had to stand together against the common threat that was early mornings. The next five minutes were spent in complete silence.

"So who do you think this person is?" Sabine asked.

"No idea." Annabeth replied honestly.

"Then how are they supposed to help us?"

"No idea."

"Why are you so dumb?"

"No ide-" She paused, dumbfounded, "Hey!"

Annabeth swung her arm around behind her, intent on catching Sabine and pummelling her, only for the younger girl to jump out of the way and _smack_ the hairbrush, bristle side first, onto Annabeth's back which stung like _hell_. There was a mighty crash in the room as Annabeth charged after her sister and followed her out into the hallway, slipping and sliding across the floor because of her wet feet, and began to get desperate when she saw that Sabine had pulled out ahead of her and was about to escape. Annabeth grabbed the nearest thing, the alarm clock, and threw it with all her strength and accuracy at Sabine's head. The resounding _thunk_ told her that she had hit her target.

" _What was that for!_ "

"You hit me!"

" _You threw an alarm clock at my face!_ "

"SHUT UP AND GET OUT HERE YOU PLEBS!" Astrid boomed from somewhere to their left, probably outdoors, and sounding very exasperated.

Annabeth grumbled and tried not to fall over as she went back inside her bathroom, picked up a towel and dried her feet before proceeding to mop the floors of the small wet patches that had now been formed. Sabine had disappeared somewhere, not that Annabeth cared, and the only sound in the hall was that of a broken alarm clock trying to tick and ring its bell in a last _hurrah_ at life.

She grabbed her trainers and pulled them on without undoing or redoing the laces and ran down the stairs to the front door before pulling it open and, trying to avoid the glare of the sun, made her way to where Astrid's figure stood in the field of grass that was now so long it reached past her ankles.

It was only when Annabeth was five meters away from her friend that she realised there was someone else with her. And it wasn't Luna.

The person was a girl, which was reassuring; with chin length black hair and deep brown eyes that radiated an aura of power and danger that screamed _goddess_ so loud that Annabeth immediately knew that this was the friend of Luna's that they were supposed to meet. She wore a brown leather jacket, white top and jeans that made her look more smart than casual which shouldn't have been possible and everything else about her ,such as her stance and face, exuded confidence that made Annabeth willing to follow this girl into the jaws of death believing that she would protect her. It didn't even matter that the girl looked eighteen; or that she looked amused at the sight of Annabeth.

"Annabeth," Astrid began, looking very fed up. "This is Kelly."

"Kelly?"

"Kelly."

The girl in question gave a wry smile at the exchange. "Luna sent me."

"Why?" Annabeth asked, only realising how blunt she was being after the words left her mouth.

Kelly shrugged. "Don't know. Luna just said that it would be a good thing for us to meet."

"Because that isn't cryptic at all."

"Not to a god," Kelly said. "It's fairly obvious when they pull stuff like this. She knows something."

"About?"

"Your destiny, of course."

Annabeth blinked. Even when she had faked her death to her friends, family and even her super-powerful mother, of course, the Fates _still knew_ that she lived. Would they sell her out? Probably not. They weren't allowed to do things like that; if they were then the gods would have known about the rise of the titans and the giants well before any prophecies were uttered and had more time to prepare. Not to mention that every immortal in the world tended to stay _away_ from the old bats and their clubs.

"Great." Annabeth sighed. "More destiny. Well that's just perfect."

"Relax, Annabeth." Astrid said. "You won't have to follow _any_ destiny so long as you stay here. The Fates have no influence on magical pockets so you're completely out of their control."

"Unless I leave, you mean."

Just then, a loud _crash_ sounded from the front door and Sabine came tumbling out, stuck in what appeared to be a green jumper several sizes too small for her.

"Bloody water!" She cursed. "All it does is shrink my clothes and wash away my art. It should only be used for drinking!"

 _Definitely not a morning person_ , Annabeth thought. They'd never got up before ten in the past so she hadn't been given the chance to see a tired and angry Sabine.

"Sabine, you're supposed to put your head through the other hole. No not that one, the _other_ one." Annabeth stressed. "How can you still not do it? I'm giving very clear instructions."

"No you're not!" Came the muffled reply.

Eventually, Astrid decided she'd had enough and went over to free Sabine herself but did not seem at all pleased with her _or_ Annabeth as she gave them both death stares once it was over. Maybe she was having second thoughts about letting them move in with her? Kelly didn't glare at them, at least. She seemed even more amused than she had before.

"Nice to see you haven't changed, Sabine." Kelly commented.

"I could say the same about you, Kelly."

Annabeth stared. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," Sabine grumped. "I did have a life _before_ I met you, ya know. No falling into lakes or flying alarm clocks…"

"Flying what?" Astrid asked.

"Forget it," Annabeth said. "If Luna knows something about an event that's about to happen and our meeting is supposed to help with that in some way, let's talk and see if we can find out what it is."

The talk was not all that Annabeth hoped it would be. Kelly kept her secrets as close to her chest as Astrid did and she refused to share much of the information that might have helped them figure out what was coming in the future that she could _somehow_ help them with; if that even was Luna's intention. Instead, they talked about how Kelly and Sabine knew each other. A few years ago, when Sabine was eleven, she'd been running about as her usual hair-brained self and was tagging graffiti onto every wall she could find. Kelly, who had been staying in one of the places Sabine was painting over, ran out and chased the girl down to demand what she was doing and why. After a bit of time as 'not-really-friends-or-enemies', the two had connected and become friends. They didn't really spend that much time together and Sabine had apparently 'vanished' in July; in reality this was when she had agreed to go underground with Annabeth after the slaughter of their siblings. Once again, Annabeth found that she was being deprived of detailed knowledge about the pasts of both goddesses and wished that they were not so closed towards her. What reasons could they have for keeping their memories to themselves? A new feeling overtook her.

"I'm going outside." She suddenly announced, startling the people in the room who had been so engrossed in their conversations that held secret meanings that Annabeth was not privy to.

Before any of them could stop her, not that she believed they would, she had walked out of one of the many living rooms, past the main hallway, up the stairs and out a not-so-secret door that led to the densest forest in the magical pocket. Annabeth power walked for almost five miles as her thoughts spun and collided inside her head. They whispered terrible things to her- that she was not a part of this godly family, that she had been imposing upon everyone because she was too afraid to go home and that the law that prohibited gods from interfering in the life of a demi-god when it had been written by the Fates had now been broken one too many times for the others to keep doing it.

Annabeth had reached a new part of the forest now. The leaves were a much darker green and the floor was made up of a tangle of roots, bushes, fallen twigs and leaves, weeds and the muddy prints of animals that had passed through. She continued down a hill and walked all the way across the plains and slopes she had now come to. Did this mean the end of Annabeth's stay? Should she have gone off on her own like her instincts had told her to instead of running to a person she felt safe with? Maybe that was the problem. Not listening. Annabeth needed to start looking after herself as she had done before instead of relying on other people to protect her and putting their lives in danger. She remembered her father, Frederick, and how he had promised to look after her when they had made up only to lose Annabeth again five years later to something he could not control. Annabeth wished she could control it.

The scenery was completely different now - when had that happened? - and Annabeth realised that she had not just walked across the plains and the hills and the valley. She'd walked right to the edge of the border. For some reason, she didn't feel tired. Didn't even remember thinking that she should come here to the place where the magic that protected her from evil could be seen as clear as day. Why had she come here? Surely she should have been in the centre of the magical pocket instead of at the very edge where anything could happen if the borders failed. In fact, now that she thought about it, Annabeth did not feel shunted to the side or unincluded in the lives of her friends and sister. Where had _those_ thoughts come from?

There was something else as well; a voice coming from somewhere Annabeth could not see. She couldn't make it out clearly but it sounded so familiar that she looked around to find the source. And now there was something else that she had the urge to do. She wanted to go up to the border, literally right up to it, and take a step across. Why? Annabeth did not know and did not care. She was tired, hungry and emotional. She walked up to the border, right to the very edge, and carefully lifted on foot and moved it across.

Then, a bright whirl of colours, all spiralling and out of control, met her eyes as she felt herself being pulled out of the magical pocket and into the unknown. There was a bright flash of white light, the feeling of an upset stomach, and Annabeth opened her deep grey eyes to look into a pair of sea green ones.

Percy Jackson.


	8. Annabeth vs Percy

Chapter 7- Annabeth vs. Percy

A mixture of gut-retching emotions rushed through Annabeth's mind. Panic, fear, sadness, guilt, confusion… none of them were positive. All she knew was that as she stared into the eyes of her once beloved boyfriend there seemed to be nothing else to say or do except-

"Uhhh."

Percy leaned back slightly in surprise, eyes widening.

"You didn't hit your head did you?" He asked in concern.

It was really him.

Annabeth gulped. "I… I don't think so."

"Good."

He reached out a hand to help her up and she shakily took it, getting to her feet slowly. This was all so confusing; how did he even find her?

"You look terrible," Percy noted as he gave her a once over. Her clothes were covered in dirt and dust from the floor and her hair was mussed from where she hadn't been able to brush it all the way through. _Damn Sabine…_

"You look nice," Annabeth retorted, trying not to wince at how awkward that had sounded. _Nice_? She hadn't seen her boyfriend since July and she called his appearance _nice._ This type of language and experience with emotions must have been a result of her travelling with the devil in disguise. Why did sisters even exist?

"Well, I haven't been on the run for the past three months." Percy grinned. "You almost had me convinced you were dead there; does your mother know?"

"No." Annabeth said, feeling even guiltier. "No-one was supposed to know. How did you find out, anyway? Don't tell me you were holding out hope all this time…"

"Nah," He shrugged. "I saw you through this."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a deep red stone that was so similar and yet so different to the one in Annabeth's own pocket that she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"That's a… that's a stone of-!"

"The Motus Set, I know." Percy seemed unmoved by her outburst. "Not as hard to acquire as yours was. I would say I was surprised he dropped it… I guess a love stone isn't _really_ of any importance, is it?"

Annabeth frowned.

"Only because they couldn't use it," She informed. "The stones can only be used by people who respect and possess their emotions."

"I figured that out myself, to be honest," Percy said, once again seeming much _calmer_ than he should have done. Why hadn't he ran up and hugged her when she arrived? Why did he not kiss her? "But the blood stone doesn't follow that approach."

"Oh?" Annabeth tried not to sound as confused as she felt. "Why's that?"

"Because it focuses on the fundamentals. Good and evil, so to speak. Magic and its darker aspect. It doesn't take the specifics into account; that's what makes it so dangerous."

"Not unless it gets its base ingredient." Annabeth commented.

"Blood; I know." Percy locked eyes with her for the second time and something seemed _out of place_ there. "Your blood, to be precise."

"Well, not exactly," Annabeth said as she tried not to look away. "The blood of any Athenian would do."

"No it wouldn't." Percy said as he turned and started to pace around the edges of the room they were in. Annabeth had only just noticed it. There were metal poles linking the two rock walls together from more than three dozen metres away, the only light in the room came from what could only be lava and the only two occupants of the huge cavern were stood on one large metal plate that did not look very safe for a room filled with heat. There were other doors that Annabeth could see but whatever lay on the other side was a mystery. Despite this, she immediately knew that this was not a good place to be in.

"The stone requires the blood of those who have raised a primordial," Percy continued to say. "But there's a catch to it. A tiny shortcut recorded by the ancients in one book that was hidden away so that no-one would ever find it. Despite this, I can sense that you _know_ what shortcut I'm talking about, which makes me wonder-"He turned to face her. " _Who_ told you?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "If there's a shortcut to this thing then why was I targeted? Why didn't they just use the shortcut in the first place and leave both of us alone?"

Percy scrutinised her for a moment before sighing.

"After all this you still won't accept it," He muttered.

"Accept what?"

" _The truth_ ," Percy stressed. "The truth that the reason your siblings died, the reason _you left me_ , was because of the circumstances of the events at Athens."

Annabeth shifted about some more. She knew that a reunion after what could only be described as being dumped would be incredibly messy but she did not expect Percy's emotions to frighten her so much.

"Percy what are you-"

"Fine." He started pacing once more. "If you're going to be like this, then I will tell you. The shortcut of the blood stone is that if the blood of the person who was used to raise Gaia _first_ is also used on the stone then every fail-safe and prohibition will be removed." He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Your blood hit the ground first, Annabeth."

"That doesn't mean anything." She weakly protested, knowing full well that what he said was true but hoping that things were different.

"It means _everything_. That moment gave your blood special abilities because it was _first_. Not second, second holds no magic in the world. _First_ has always been the most important number and it holds true here. _That's_ why you went into hiding; _that_ 's why you left me all alone."

"You weren't alone. There were so many others there to help you move past it and Camp Half-Blood wasn't safe for me. If I'd stayed or let you come with me, everyone would be dead!"

" _I could have helped._ "

"You didn't know anything." Annabeth almost shouted, feeling her voice crack with emotion. "At least I didn't _think_ you did until now with all this knowledge about the stones and-" She paused for a moment. "Hang on… how _do_ you know all this?"

"Know what?" Percy snapped.

"All this information about the stones," Annabeth said. "The Olympians don't know anything and there's been no quest without the Spirit of Delphi. So how do you know? And for that matter, how did you get that stone?"

"I have my ways," He said evasively. "It does not matter."

"Yes it does," Annabeth continued, picking up steam now. "That stone must have come from its original holder but there haven't been any discoveries of new monsters," Realisation dawned on her. "And I was in a magical pocket five minutes ago… you pulled me out somehow."

"That wasn't me," Percy said. "You stepped over the border yourself and fell down here. All I did was put those thoughts in your head through the connection of the stones. That friend of yours forgot to enchant her borders to protect against attacks on thought."

Annabeth stared at Percy in shock.

"You-… you did…" She blinked and tried to compose herself. "You lured me out of the pocket."

"I did."

Annabeth let out a sharp breath. " _Why_?"

"Because I had to see you. Had to know if these pictures in my head and these _feelings_ … are they worth anything?"

"Worth anything? What do you mean?"

"I mean, are they worth _keeping_. Are they an instrument to my goals, a means to an end, or a hindrance to what I want? They told me love was _worthless_ and I agree with them, but are these memories a good source of motivation? Of power?"

"Since when did you care about power?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "Percy, _what is the matter with you_?"

He let out a harsh breathe as his head dropped down, chin touching his chest with his back still turned to her.

"I knew it," Percy half-whispered. "I knew this wasn't the right path. I should have told them you were still alive and raised the lord and master without pondering on the other boy's weaknesses."

"Other boy?" Annabeth took a tentative step back. "What do you mean?"

There was no reply.

"Percy?"

Then, quick as a flash and with no prior warning, Percy had unsheathed a sword from his belt, whirled round to face Annabeth and swung for her neck with one clean slice. It was pure instinct that saved her, built up from months of time spent encased in fear and carrying the greatest of burdens on her back; she rolled beneath Percy's legs and dropped into a defensive stance as he turned back around with a more than crazed look in his eyes.

"Percy stop!" Annabeth cried but was unsuccessful as he swung his sword once again.

This was not at all how things should have been going. Annabeth had imagined her reunion with the son of Poseidon many times before but had not once believed that he would attack her. Sure, he was entitled to be upset and shout at her for a while but to actually attempt to _kill_ her was not okay.

Annabeth jumped to the side and slammed her elbow into Percy's back as he stumbled past her, sending him flailing for a moment before he regained his composure much faster than should have been possible. There wasn't any water around, either, which meant that this new-found strength had to have been acquired when Annabeth was missing and that his stamina was now practically unrivalled by any demi-god.

Percy raised his sword once more and this time there was no space for Annabeth to get out of the way. His sword came down on her with devastating force and speed and, before she could even think about what she was doing, Annabeth brought herself closer to him and grabbed his sword hand with her own so that they were momentarily grappling for control of the weapon. It was at this moment that Annabeth realised that the sword Percy was using was _not_ Riptide or any weapon that she had seen before. It was a dark looking weapon with a silver blade that reflected Annabeth's horror stricken gaze back at herself that sent jitters along her spine and made her want to cry because _this was actually happening._

The grapple was broken moments later when Annabeth was shoved harshly in the ribs and went flying across the cavern until she landed on the other side of the floor. She tried to get up and defend herself but then Percy gave a shout of anger and some unseen force blasted her off her feet once more and flung her into the air much higher this time. The sight of the lava below met her eyes just as she managed to grab onto a metal beam that was just a few metres above the platform. Percy threw his sword at her and she swung round to the side of the beam to avoid getting hit by it and gaped when it spun mid-air and flew back to his hand. Was that even possible?

"Enough, Percy!" She tried to get through to him as she began to climb the many beams for safety. "You're not thinking straight!"

"I've never thought straighter in my life," Percy growled from somewhere beneath her. "The only way to attain _true power_ is for you to _die_!"

There was a sound of metal striking metal and sparks flew from the underside of the beam Annabeth was standing on as Percy made yet another unsuccessful attempt to knock her off or, worse, kill her. It was at this moment that Annabeth realised how much of a fool she was to not have any sort of weapon on her. There had been ample opportunity for her to ask Astrid to forge one for her but in the peace of being safe and having a home once more Annabeth had completely forgotten about it. She hadn't had any weapon training for _weeks_ and her new speciality involved outsmarting the enemy and disappearing the moment she got the chance. In any other situation, that might have worked fine; now, on the other hand, there was no way to get through to the enraged boy and nowhere to disappear to. She was trapped and defenceless.

As she climbed to the next beam, Annabeth spotted a bronze rod about a metre and a half long and felt her heart stop. _Celestial bronze_ , could it be? She rushed over and was able to wrap one hand around it before something grabbed her ankle and yanked her down harshly. She held onto the top of the beam with the tips of her right hand and twisted to find that Percy had climbed onto the beams and caught up with her. He raised his sword menacingly, ready to cut off her leg and, without thinking, Annabeth thrust the rod forward with all of her strength and almost let go in shock when it missed the intended target, Percy's sword, and instead embedded itself in his chest.

There was a piercing scream that sounded far from human as Percy flinched in pain and lost his footing on the beams. He and his sword tumbled down, past the gap between the platform and the cavern wall, and straight into the lava below. Annabeth's mouth dropped open in a soundless scream as she saw him vanish beneath the molten rock, never to be seen again. There was a bubbling sound beside where head had landed and something else, deep red and glowing with power, sunk beneath the surface and was destroyed along with him- the stone. But it did not go quietly. Annabeth had not moved from her spot when a spout of lava rose from the lake and almost burn her to cinders as it passed just two metres from her face before sinking down once more. Droplets of the molten fluid caught on Annabeth's clothes and face and she screamed in pain as she batted it away and lost her grip on the beam above her, heading straight down for the spot that had claimed her boyfriend.

Annabeth's stomach did somersaults as she fell the first few feet before something, lukewarm on her skin, grabbed onto her arm and prevented her from falling any further. Looking up, Annabeth was shocked to see a familiar face looking down at her.

" _Kelly?!_ "

"Get up here!" The older girl hauled Annabeth back onto the beam and grabbed her shoulder. "The whole place is falling apart! Why were you hanging there for so long?"

Annabeth could not recall how long she had been staring down after Percy. Had it really been longer than the few moments she had felt it was? The cavern was, as she had been told, falling to pieces around them and the ceiling appeared to be on the verge of falling down on top of them. There was noise all around her and Annabeth's ears started to ring so loudly that she could not hear what Kelly said next. After a moment, the girl seemed to understand that Annabeth had no idea what was going on and began dragging her out of harm's way as they headed to some unknown location. There was fire and smoke everywhere and once they hit solid ground Annabeth just closed her eyes and held on tightly to the hand she was holding as they ran.

Everything started to hurt and Annabeth felt wet tears streak down her face as they went. It all seemed like some terrible nightmare; she'd _killed_ Percy, her _boyfriend_. Her lungs were choked by smoke and emotion and she started to violently cough as they ran, almost stopping dead in her tracks to catch her breath and being pulled along by Kelly. They were running up a slope now but Annabeth could not see or feel what was around her until they burst out of a door that collided horribly with Annabeth's free arm and delicious fresh air washed over her and filled her lungs so that the only thing attacking them were her horrible sobs.

Kelly pulled her along for a bit longer and Annabeth finally plucked up the courage to open her eyes and see what was around her. They were in a town of some sort with small one floor houses and a humongous market that had leaked onto the backstreets. The sky was dark and grim which reflected Annabeth's mood as she was pulled through several back alleys and spun through the twisting bends so complex that no-one would ever have been able to keep up with them. One of many small houses came into view and gradually came closer and closer which told Annabeth that this was their destination before they stopped in front of the door, which opened on its own, and ducked inside.

Annabeth did not have time to register the new scenery before the front door closed behind them and Kelly sat her down on a bed with several first aid kits nearby. Was this some kind of hospital?

"Lay on your back," Kelly ordered. "The burns are on your front and you need to sleep."

Annabeth tried to frown but suddenly the drying tears on her face felt much more prominent and she wiped them away with her singed sleeve.

"I don't want to sleep." She said. "There's too much to think about. I have to-"

"Have to what? Tell people that you committed manslaughter on your boyfriend?"

Annabeth choked on a sob and turned her head away.

"Sorry," Kelly apologised. "But emotional people are difficult to deal with and you usually need to make it clear where you stand with them. Just go to sleep, okay? You'll feel better afterwards."

There was little Annabeth could do to argue with that. Her limbs felt like lead and her vision swam before her eyes. She felt so tired and emotionally stricken that her body began to shut down of its own accord to avoid the pain and before the hour was up she was asleep.


	9. Hint of Truth

Chapter 8- Hint of Truth

Percy could not remember many events in his life that had caused him to feel such a great turmoil of emotions that he could not actually describe what he was feeling. There had been the two great prophecies, of course, and regaining his memories to realise that he had not seen his mother in almost a year but he could honestly say that the way he was feeling at the moment was not akin to any of them. He had returned from his escapade, not unscathed but nowhere near as dead as he should have been, only to be told that Camp Half-Blood- his _home_ \- had been completely destroyed and that almost every demi-god and nature spirit that lived there had been killed. Even more shocking, they seemed to think that _he_ was the one who had killed them!

"So what _exactly_ did he look like?" Percy asked for the hundredth time in a meeting of what remained of Camp Half-Bloods forces.

"Like _you_ ," Clarisse growled, her sword still out. "A bit of a coincidence, don't you think? That at the time of your absence we have another _you_ stroll across our borders and kill _every one_ of our _friends_ and _family_."

"Clarisse," Chiron warned; the centaur was in his wheelchair form so that he would fit inside the Roman building. "You were told first hand by your father that things are not what they seem."

"Oh, things aren't what they seem, alright," Clarisse waved her sword threateningly. "We thought that this _traitor_ was on our side and now we see that he isn't! He has the gall to show up when we are recovering from his assault and tries to convince us that he knows nothing about it!"

Percy raised his hands pacifyingly. "I didn't do anything!" He protested. "I was with the Hunters of Artemis, I swear!"

" _Right_ , because a group of man-hating girls and their patron goddess are going to take in a seventeen year old male demi-god _alone in the night_."

"Clarisse! If you are not going to contribute to this discussion then you must leave immediately!" Chiron snapped which made it one of the very few times Percy had actually seen him angry before. The events of that day had taken their toll of everyone, centaur included.

The daughter of Ares huffed in frustration and sat down heavily on one of the many seats around the table, the others occupied. This room, while consisting of an actual table and high-quality snack bar, made Percy incredibly homesick and made him wish that he had never been captured by the hooded figures. No-one had been able to find out anything about them, as far as they knew, and all demi-gods were on lock-down until further notice.

"So what are we going to do?" Conner Stoll asked from where he sat beside his brother. "There's only thirty of us left now. We haven't had numbers this low since, well, _ever_."

"At least we have the Romans," Katie offered. "They can help us."

Pollux snorted. "Yeah, if their Lares ever stop insulting us."

There was a muttered agreement around the table. The ghosts did not take kindly to the presence of the Greeks, despite the healing of the rift and the acceptance of the Romans at Camp Half-Blood, and continually berated every Greek they came across and attempted to make their lives even _more_ miserable. On one occasion, things had gotten so bad that Reyna and Frank had to threaten to banish the hostile spirits if they didn't move past their old grievances which didn't make them overly popular with the die-hard Romans.

"We shouldn't be focusing on that," Katie continued. "We should be trying to rebuild and start again."

"What, with that _other Percy_ lurking around the area and a battalion of monsters inside the borders?" Clarisse rolled her eyes. "We won't be doing a lot of _rebuilding_ if we go back there now. They'll just roll over us again when their given permission to enter by a half-blood."

"I don't understand how that guy looks like Percy in the first place," Travis piped up. "Every human is individual in nature and looks. Surely magic that could change someone's face would have been identified by now?"

That had been nagging at Percy as well. He'd spent many nights tossing and turning and wondering exactly how this imposter had come into being and was usually found examining every possible solution several times a minute before passing out for the night. Then, just two days ago, a new thought had hit him.

"Those things took my blood," Percy announced, startling those who had fallen into uncomfortable silence. "They took my blood and they had some kind of stone. They said they had _other plans_ for me. What if-"

"What if they found a way to create a new you with the blood they had?" Chiron interrupted, seeming to know exactly where the conversation was going. "I've been thinking the same thing; along with many other gods on Olympus I am informed."

"By who?"

Percy knew that Mr. D had not shown his face since he'd fled from Camp Half-Blood without lifting a finger to save any of the campers- only Chiron. He couldn't help but feel incredibly angry with the god who had done _nothing_ while the children he was assigned to protect were slaughtered in their beds.

"Iris messaging is still in use," The old centaur said nonchalantly. "Mr. D has been detained by Lord Zeus for the time being and will not be joining us for a while. The king wants a full report on the events that levelled the Greek camp."

"Full account?" Percy demanded. "Mr. D wasn't even there! He did nothing to help!"

"If I recall correctly, Jackson, _you_ weren't there either," Clarisse levelled him with a glare. "Unless you were lying to us."

Percy finally lost his temper. "Clarisse, if there's something you want to do to _prove_ that any of this is true then please go and do it. Otherwise, SHUT UP AND STOP COMPLAINING LIKE A SPOILT EIGHT YEAR OLD BRAT!"

Clarisse raised her sword.

"That's it!" Katie snapped. "Us Greeks are about to be completely destroyed here and all you can do is scream at each other and complain; why don't you just leave right now if that's all you're going to do? Come back when you stop acting like children."

Both demi-gods opened their mouths to retort but Chiron stopped them.

"She's right," He gave them both disappointed looks. "If you are going to be of no help to this discussion then clearly you do not belong in it. You are both dismissed."

Clarisse kicked her chair over as she left and Percy resisted the urge to do the same. How dare they; how _dare_ they? First, they held Percy up against the wall and accused him of betraying them before it was revealed that he had no part in the attack and then, _then_ , they sent him from their hall just for doing something as simple as arguing with Clarisse. _Everyone_ argued with Clarisse. Despite his best efforts, Percy could not shake the feeling that seeing a person with _his face_ kill the siblings and friends of so many of the head counsellors had caused them to close off from him completely, making him an outcast to almost everyone. What did it matter if someone had used his face? Surely they should have been able to look past that and realise that the true Percy, the one who had stood before them and told them of the new threat, was their friend and that he would never do them harm.

Fate, it seemed, was being especially cruel to the life of _this_ demi-god.

He made his way through the winding streets of the city of New Rome until he reached the infirmary where his friends Jason and Piper were still being treated. Their injuries had been extensive but Jason's were so much more devastating that he could not even be moved and the Golden Fleece had to stay around him at all times in order to stay the hand of death. The repercussions of the assault on Camp Half-Blood were so pronounced within the walls of the infirmary that Percy always had to take a breath before he walked inside. People always gave him cautious looks when he was inside or backed up in fear that he would lash out and attack them as the other Percy had done but it was all worth it just to get to talk to his friends.

"Hey P-man," Jason greeted him, managing to look cheerful despite the bandages and fleece he was wrapped in. "How'd the meeting go? I thought it would have lasted longer."

"It's still going," Percy mumbled as he pulled up a chair beside Jason's bed. "They kicked me out with Clarisse because we were arguing."

Jason frowned. "Everyone argues with Clarisse."

"Exactly!" Percy cried. "They just wanted to get rid of me because they don't like me. They don't want me around."

"Well I can kind of see why they did it," Jason admitted. "You may not have been there, Percy, but that guy looked _so much like you_ it was unbelievable. I lowered my guard for a moment because I thought it was you and you'd escaped but then he smiled this cold grin and before I knew it I'd been stabbed and he'd killed everyone else. Something like that takes a while to heal, man."

"I get that," Percy said. "But why take emotions out on me while that's happening? We should be working together to get through this, not standing at each other's throats all the time."

"Sometimes people can't help but do that," said Jason. "But as the emotion and adrenaline from whatever happened wears off so does the tension between the people working together."

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair before smiling. "It must be easy to diffuse the tension between demi-gods when you work as a full time godly counsellor."

"Not a _real_ godly counsellor," Jason protested. "I've never sat Hera and my father down and forced them to talk about their issues. In fact, that would probably be the quickest possible way to get myself turned into sludge."

"Well they are known for their marriage troubles." Percy commented.

Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance but Percy took no note of it. It was true that the couple were renowned for the bumps in their marriage but it wasn't like they were ever going to break up since gods couldn't get divorced; if they could, Hephaestus and Aphrodite would not still be together after many torrid affairs and their complete dislike of one another. They were, after all, the only married godly couple to have never had any children together.

"So what are you going to do?" Jason asked worriedly. "Piper's still out cold so you can't ask her for advice and I'm in no state to be giving emotional advice; Will's threatened to wrap me in chains if I keep straining myself. He almost flipped his lid the last time I tried moving an inch to the right on my own."

"Well doctors are like that sometimes," Percy said. "How much time have you got left in here?"

"About two years," Jason sighed. "My wounds have barely started to heal and my energy leaves as quickly as it comes. If I didn't have this fleece things would be going bad quickly."

"But you _do_ have the fleece." Percy insisted. "That means you're going to be okay. Then you and Piper are going to spend your days drinking coffee from the store and staring off into the sunset like the lovesick fools you are."

"Don't mock me. Not so long ago you used to be a lovesick fool as well."

"I know," Percy bent his head to look at the ground. "And someday soon I'm going to avenge that part of my life and kill these creatures, whoever they are."

"I can't believe these guys killed Annabeth," Jason said. "We've never even _heard_ of them before and they suddenly show up and murder an innocent girl with her whole life ahead of her."

"They weren't supposed to do that. They wanted her blood, just like they wanted mine, and with it they were going to raise their master just like Gaia was raised in Athens. Now Annabeth's dead because they messed up and blew up the entire cabin; they killed every Athenian and with them their chances to raise their godly pal."

Jason's face contorted in a mixture between anger and worry. "So they botched their job and Annabeth paid the price?"

"Yeah," Percy's heart felt like lead. "They murdered her."

Silence descended upon the two of them. Percy knew that as long as he lived he would never get over the murder of his girlfriend and in the month that had passed since the discovery he had only ever thought of avenging her and finding the truth behind this imposter that had destroyed Camp Half-Blood. There was nothing that had been able to console him when he had discovered the identity, _sort-of_ , of the murderers and even his own mother had not been able to make much of a difference despite her blue foods and insistence that they see every action thriller that Percy had wanted to see in the summer before the incidents had taken place.

As Percy's thoughts overtook his feelings, someone ran up behind him.

"Jackson!" It was a surviving Hermes camper. "The other counsellors want to see you; they've found something."

Percy frowned. "What something?"

"News from Olympus. They've got information on the imposter you."

Percy snapped to attention. "Bye Jason." He said quickly before getting to his feet and sprinting out of the infirmary.

This was it, the moment he had been waiting for. They had information that Percy had prayed and pleaded for and if it was something good, like a _location_ , then he would be heading out first thing to avenge his friends and unravel the mystery that surrounded these users of dark magic. The door to the meeting room was slightly ajar and thus perfect for bursting through without breaking pace and coming to a stop in front of the meeting once again; he noticed that Clarisse was already seated and a screen had been set up in the centre of the table.

"What's going on?" He asked. "What's this?"

"Have a seat, Percy," Chrion instructed and Percy did so. "This was captured by a group of nature spirits who had been instructed to follow up all trails of dark magic in Olympian spheres of influence."

The video began to play and with a start Percy realised that the imposter of him, the person everyone had been talking about, was standing right in the middle of it. It had obviously been filmed from quite a ways away as his figure only took up a small portion of the screen but the resemblance between the two of them was ridiculous. He looked _exactly_ like Percy, just as everyone said he did. Then the cameras view was shifted and a girl could be seen conversing with the boy. Once again, Percy noted that it had been filmed from too great a distance to make out any distinct features but there was one thing he recognised instantly.

"That's a daughter of Athena." He announced.

"So it would seem," Chiron agreed. "A survivor of the attack brought to be killed, or worse, have her blood used to raise this being in the shadows."

The audio of the video was crackly and Percy could not hear exactly what was being said but then, suddenly, the imposter started to raise his voice in anger and began attacking the surviving Athenian. The two backed up and climbed the many beams holding the room together in what was unmistakeably a game of cat and mouse for the girl had no weapon and, just as the imposter grabbed her leg and attempted to finish her once and for all, she whirled around with inhuman speed and something bronze and shimmering in her hand and stabbed him right in the chest. There was a harsh crackling sound and the screen went completely out of focus as the imposter fell from the beams and through a gap in the floor from which he did not return.

The scene, not one minute long, ended.

"Woah." Travis said.

"Woah," His brother agreed. "Did you see how fast she moved? I didn't think that was possible."

"How did that girl even survive?"

"No-one knows," said Chiron. "All we do know is that her existence is impossible. Athena herself stated that all of her children were killed in the blaze and that she has no new-borns waiting on the side-lines. As much as I wish to believe it, that girl cannot be a daughter of Athena. A child of another goddess, perhaps, but not a child of the goddess of wisdom."

Percy frowned. "But you just said-"

"I know what was said, Percy. But my wishful thinking will not erase the events of the path; even if those who witnessed the scene report that…" He trailed off as Percy thought he heard yet another sound of thunder booming nearby.

"Report what?" Katie Gardener questioned.

"Well, some of them appear to be under the impression that the girl was the mirror image of a famous hero now dead but the doors of death have not been opened and no hero was spat out. In fact, there are people checking right now to make sure that everyone is accounted for."

"I thought they already did that?" asked Connor.

"They did, but it is best to be thorough."

"So, what do we do now? Find this girl and get her to tell us everything she knows about these guys?"

"I doubt she would know much, Connor," Chiron stated. "But seeing as she was the target of an attack it has certainly become an interest to discover her location- not one that _we_ will be searching for but my sources tell me that people are already intrigued."

"Makes sense," Clarisse grumbled. "No-one has any information on these guys and now we know that someone who _does_ know something just-so happens to be an _enemy_ of them could mean an ally for us."

"We'll see," Chiron's face was grim. "Remember your father's warning; 'not everything is as it seems'. Now, the meeting is adjourned and talks about rebuilding will begin tomorrow."


	10. The Factions

Chapter 9- The Factions

Annabeth's mind was groggy and unfocused when she started to slip out of the state of dreams, none of which she could remember. The bed beneath her was by no means soft but surprisingly comfortable; there was stiff fabric wrapped around her hands and something sticky was attached to her head. The backs of her eyelids were dark and reassuring and Annabeth could not bring herself to fight off the sleep that kept her body from moving. She felt so much more tired than she usually did after sleeping and began to wonder if something had awoken her at the time of a very deep sleep but surely she would have been able to remember the end of a dream if that was the state she had awoken from. The more abrupt your awakening, the greater your chances of remembering a dream because you were pulled out of it.

The sound of muffled footsteps met her ears.

"Hey," Someone was shaking her shoulder. "Hey, get up. Come on, Chase, you've been sleeping for two days."

Annabeth grumbled some nonsense response and turned her head way from the noise. Clearly, her body was saying that two days was not enough and that she should go right back to sleep. _What a splendid idea_ , she thought.

"Chase," The voice sounded irritated now. " _Get up_."

Something soft slammed into Annabeth's side and she cracked an eye open in surprise.

"Wha…?"

"Don't use baby talk," The voice reprimanded from her right. "Get up and get dressed. Then we'll go and get you some breakfast since your stomach is probably empty right now."

 _Oh that's why it hurts_ , Annabeth thought as she fought to urge to grasp her stomach as it spasmed. She rolled over with great difficulty and noted that it was Kelly who had been speaking from where she was sat reading a coverless book; she'd thrown a pillow at Annabeth for refusing to awaken. There were clean bandages wrapped around the lower parts of Annabeth's hands from where the lava had burned them but the tops of her fingers were uncovered and unscathed. A glass of water and pile of clothes was on the bedside table and Annabeth noted as she chugged the liquid that the clothes were in much better condition than any of the ones Annabeth had managed to hold onto in the past few years. They always ended up getting torn, or singed, or burned away by monster venom or slashed by the talons of an unfriendly creature. If these things didn't happen, Annabeth probably would never have been prompted to go clothes shopping in her life.

"Where are we?" She asked as she put the glass down.

"Fern Cottage," Kelly replied. "It's owner died a few years ago and left it to me. I've never had a use for it until now."

"You've got another house?"

Kelly tilted her head slightly. "You could say that," She said. "Get changed, your clothes have holes burned through them."

"I'm not getting changed while you're here!"

"You don't say," Kelly rolled her eyes sarcastically. "That's what the toilets for. Second door on the right."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You call the bathroom the toilet?"

"Not all gods are American."

"So you're British then?"

"Yes. Now go get changed."

Annabeth grabbed the new set of clothes and wandered into the bathroom/toilet. There was a long-sleeved light brown top, pristine jeans and grey hoodie along with a pair of black socks all wrapped up and waiting to be worn. As she dressed, trying her utmost not to jog her wounds or tear any bandages, Annabeth wondered where exactly they were. Fern Cottage wasn't exactly a specific location and the building they had ran into after escaping the collapsing cavern had looked like anything but a cosy little cottage. Annabeth ran a hand through her tangled hair and hissed in pain when her fingers nicked against something soft and squishy on the back of her neck. Twisting around so that she could get a clear view of it in the mirror, Annabeth shifted her long blonde hair to the side and saw another bandage, this one spongey and taped on, was covering a spot along the base of her neck and spine.

When had she been hit there?

She pushed her hair back gently and slid the hoodie over her head with about as much speed as a killer snail. So many of her joints were aching and Annabeth heard rather than felt her body fixing itself when a loud crack emitted from her elbow as she moved to pick up her old clothes and the joint popped out of position momentarily before going back in. She'd always hated when people did things like that on purpose. There was a small window with translucent glass at the back of the room and Annabeth opened it to see what was on the other side. The sight her eyes met was like something out of Assassin's Creed. The buildings in the distance had golden brown bricks and roofs made of burgundy tiles. There were people walking about in large crowds around what appeared to be a market and sun seekers lined the bay along the wooden piers that served as docks.

The sky was a deep blue with clouds dotted about every so often and the sun shone brightly in its morning position. Annabeth noticed that Fern Cottage was sat right on the outskirts of the town were the buildings were smaller and less people roamed. It didn't seem to be a crime ridden place, as children chased each other in the alleys and women conversed over broken walls, but it was definitely in the backstreets of the town. She assumed it wasn't a city because there was a lack of metal buildings and no technology such as billboards were hanging from the sides of every surface. It was all very peaceful and very out of the way; she couldn't help but wonder why Kelly had chosen not to use this house more often.

Annabeth closed the window and left the bathroom with her dirty clothes in hand. Kelly was waiting by the front door for her.

"Done?" She asked.

"Yeah, but where do I put these?"

"I would suggest binning them," Kelly said. "You can always get more."

"But I don't have any money," Annabeth protested. "And the rest is still in Astrid's house."

"You'll make money and then you can buy new ones," Kelly reasoned. "Now put your shoes on and let's go. I'm hungry."

Annabeth's hiking boots had escaped without any damage, it seemed, and they were out the door two minutes later. The air was warm enough to convince Annabeth that they were not in any northern country and laundry was strung up on lines linking between walls and windows. There were fountains peeking through bricks every now and then and their water was a popular source of drink for the natives though Annabeth could not be certain if the water was supplied by the government or was simply rain water that had trickled down through the system to give the city floors a sparkling appearance in the vibrant sun. The entire city had a very renaissance feel about it.

"What city is this?" Annabeth questioned.

"Prague." Kelly said.

"It looks like that town from Assassin's Creed."

"That's Florence, Annabeth," Kelly corrected. "And if you want to fit in with my friends you will never make such a mistake over video games again."

"They like video games then?" Annabeth asked.

"Like them? They've been known to go on dates with the disks in their pockets and spend all their spare time polishing them."

"That's… not what _all_ gamers do but I guess if the disks weren't working then…" Annabeth trailed off. She couldn't imagine how strange it must be to be friends with people who treated their game discs like priceless trinkets. Oh wait, _yes she could_.

"What do you want to eat?" Kelly asked.

"Not sure. I don't know what foods they have here."

"Very helpful," Kelly grumbled sarcastically. "Up these stairs. There's a bar inside."

They walked inside a two floor building with windows on the front but not the back and a huge balcony in the place where the extra room should have been. It was clear that not many people used it and even as she walked in Annabeth noticed that the amount of people using the facility was a big fat zero. Well, almost zero. She could hear noises from the balcony and guessed that they were headed there just as the door to said balcony was blasted off its hinges and smoke filled the doorway. The two paused for a moment.

"Wonderful," Kelly noted as the sounds of a brawl came from within. "Looks like we're going to a not-so-cheap place instead."

"Posh restaurants are nice," Annabeth insisted, wincing as she heard a pained scream from the balcony. "People don't fight in them as often as in bars."

"Restaurant? What am I, made of money? I'm not a bloody Olympian, Chase."

In the end, they found a nice quiet spot along a manmade canal and the food was cheap enough for Kelly not to give Annabeth the death stare for simply looking at it. The food was so good that Annabeth _almost_ forgot all about Kelly's aversion to expensive things and just stuffed her face for the next thirty minutes.

"So," She tried to sound nonchalant with a mouth full of toast. "You have money problems?"

Kelly stared at her. "You know, some gods would kill you for asking a question like that."

"Come on," Annabeth urged. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm just curious, is all. The only minor gods whose lives I've got insight into are Astrid and Sabine."

Kelly flinched. "Don't say that!"

"What?"

" _Minor_. Don't say it."

"Why?"

"Because it's an insult, you moron. Telling a god that they're minor is like walking up to a guy with one leg and telling him he's unimportant because he doesn't have the same abilities as everyone else; it's a very serious thing! And it isn't exactly getting any better with demi-gods like _you_ throwing the term about whenever you damn-well please." Kelly glowered.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth apologised, shrinking slightly. "I didn't realise. The Olympians never said-"

" _Of course_ the Olympians wouldn't say anything. They don't want people to know that the phrase they coined for immortals less powerful than themselves got taken over by the factions and turned into one of the biggest offensive words in history."

"The factions?"

Kelly sighed and leaned back against her chair. "Look, if anyone asks, it wasn't _me_ who told you this alright?"

Annabeth nodded.

"In the past few decades, the Olympians have been losing their grip on some of the more ambitious immortals under their control. And I don't mean the _good_ ambitious either; I'm talking about the people who see something they want and will do anything to get it."

"How did they lose their grip?"

"Well they got cocky, of course," Kelly gave a wry smile. "The people who, in most cases, are on the top of the heap usually forget that there are other people around whose feelings they should be considering. They made the mistake one too many times thirty years ago and a huge group of gods left Olympus to begin their _own_ society; one where people were given what they deserved and not shunted to the side by more powerful beings."

"And how is _that_ a bad thing?" Annabeth asked.

"Because that isn't what happened. The more powerful members of the group, hypocrites that they are, assumed control and threw out all of the peace-loving and passive gods that would stand in the way of their ambition. Their desires to murder and pillage every godly place that wasn't aggressive towards the Olympians and finally get themselves noticed."

"So did they?"

"Would I be telling you this if they hadn't," Kelly sassed and Annabeth suddenly felt very foolish. "Basically, they started attacking all these innocent immortals and the Olympians took notice. They decided that, given the amount of people affected, they should probably find a way to take out the leader of this faction before it got out of hand. Now, that was a good plan; arguably the best they've ever had. It's just a shame they never went through with it."

"What?" Annabeth frowned. "Why?"

"The master bolt got stolen," said Kelly. "And Zeus decided that the possession of his weapon was far more important than stamping out any faction. True, getting an incredibly powerful and destructive weapon back in safer hands was a good idea, but it was what happened _afterwards_ that really broke the camel's back. The faction started to splinter apart and its member formed new ones, _stronger_ ones, and they started fighting each other for power and tearing apart the homes of the gods living on earth in their quest to get it. The Olympians were so absorbed by the new threat of the Titans that they completely forgot to watch the home fort for things like this. This allowed the factions to grow not only right under their noses, but to become powerful and large in number with Gaia's support in the Giant War."

"Impossible," Annabeth decided. "There were no factions following us on the trip to Athens and none showed their faces when Gaia's allies were being hunted down."

"That's because they didn't care about _her_ ," Kelly insisted. "They only wanted to get a bit more power and forces for themselves. Shortly after the wars end, the Olympians finally noticed that there were a bit too many splinter groups of gods lying around and tried to talk them down but it was too little too late."

"And where are these factions now?" Annabeth asked. "Why aren't they being taken apart and forced to stand trial for the gods they attacked?"

"Because the factions live on land and hide themselves from the Olympians with spells and the size of the landscape. Not many people know that the factions even _exist_ yet; their all talking about some new people they found. Big black cloaks and silver swords or whatever."

"Big black cloaks?" Annabeth repeated, the image strangely familiar. "I saw someone in a big black cloak back in England. Are there more of them?"

"Not sure," said Kelly. "You'd have to ask an Olympian for that."

"Well what about the factions?" Annabeth continued. "Do you know anything else about them?"

"I know they get into firefights all the time and don't care if anyone gets caught between them. They all have their bases hidden by natural landmarks and put out turrets to ward off intruders but-"

"Wait… you _know_ where these places are?"

"Well done." Kelly rolled her eyes.

"But how? I thought no-one could find them!"

"Annabeth I'm unemployed, homeless and the only thing I've ever been able to do is scour the landscape looking for places that things could be hidden in. Why _wouldn't_ I know where their bases are?"

"You're not homeless!" Annabeth protested. "You have Fern Cottage and another house, or so you claim-"

"I prefer to be on the move," Kelly said, crossing her arms. "And it's always more interesting to be travelling around the world with a group of your mates. I barely got to do that before I turned eighteen."

Annabeth put her face in one hand. "Please tell me you've told someone in a high up position about these places."

Kelly sighed and stretched her arms out behind her. "Look, I don't have time for this. If you were a god you would understand automatically but seeing as you're _not_ then it'll probably be that much easier to explain why some of us don't trust the Olympians."

"I know that you shouldn't trust the Olympians," Annabeth said. "But surely you should pass this information on to someone who can do something about it. How many of these bases have you found?"

"Five now, with clues on a sixth."

"Good gods." Annabeth cursed.

"I wouldn't go saying that," Kelly chuckled. "Some of us aren't that good."

"I'm trying to be polite," said Annabeth. "Kelly if this is a serious matter then you have to fess up those locations."

"It's not serious to the Olympians!"

"But if it _does_ get serious," Annabeth pressed. "Will you tell them?"

"Oh for the love of-"

 _Woof!_

A huge grey dog with brown eyes and a shaggy coat came bounding through the restaurant towards them. The mortals paid it little notice with children laughing as it upturned a trolley in its enthusiasm before skidding to a stop in front of the table Kelly and Annabeth were sitting at. It barked again.

"Hello Tramp." Kelly muttered.

Annabeth snorted. "You named the dog after the one in Disney?!"

"I hadn't seen that when I named him!" Kelly protested. "He came in as a puppy from the streets and I just thought, since tramps are always on the street, that I should name him that."

"Don't _you_ live on the street, supposedly?"

"Shut up."

"And you lecture me about offensive language."

"Go eat a boat of-"

 _Woof!_

"Will you stop interrupting me!?" Kelly demanded.

"He probably doesn't like your language." Annabeth teased.

"More likely that he wants to wind me up," said Kelly. "Bloody dog. I'll bet he wants to steal my food again."

"Did you feed him today?"

"Five times already. Greedy pig."

Annabeth laughed but Kelly went stiff.

"Don't move." She said.

"What?"

Suddenly, Kelly picked up a butter knife from the table, twisted around to view the rooftops overlooking the canal, and threw it with deadly precision towards a figure that Annabeth had not noticed before, standing in perfect view of their meal with a gun in his hands. There was a horrible sound, high pitched and audible for only half a second, that indicated the knife had found its target and the man stumbled back in pain, clutching at his neck. Five other figures rose into view and levelled their weapons.

"Go!" Kelly cried, shoving Annabeth to her feet. "Go, go, go!"

Annabeth ran.


	11. Street Rat Pack

Chapter 10- Street Rat Pack

 _Well this sucks_ , Annabeth thought as she leant back against the cold wall of her cell. The only light came through cracks in the door to her left and the air stunk of dirt and musk which wasn't exactly a good blend to smell. The floor was made of, you guessed it, _dirt_ and the walls were made up of old bricks that were crumbling and had huge chunks of them ripped away so that there were several handholds Annabeth could use to climb to the metal roof and bang on it when she was annoyed. It had been almost an hour since three of the men with guns had locked her inside and taken Kelly to meet with their boss who apparently knew her somehow. At least Tramp was in the cell with her, otherwise Annabeth was quite sure she would have gone mad from waiting.

Finally, the door opened and a well-armed man with a flat jacket and cap pulled low over his face appeared with his gun at the ready.

"Get up," He grumped and motioned his gun threateningly. "Try anything and the dog gets it."

Deciding it was best not to retort, Annabeth got to her feet and walked out of the cell with said dog at her heels. The scenery did not change that much although there was much more light and the tiniest bit more space in the open corridor. There were men armed with guns all standing with their backs to the wall every few metres and Annabeth counted twenty in total as she was hurried down the corridor and towards a set of open doors through which voices could be heard.

"I grow tired of waiting, Jones." An unfamiliar voice was speaking.

"Cool your jets, Krieg, I'll have it soon." Kelly's voice replied. Since when was she called Jones?

"General," The man escorting Annabeth announced their presence. "I have the demi-god here, as instructed."

"Very good, private," General Krieg said. "You are dismissed."

The private turned on his heel and marched off.

"So," Krieg looked Annabeth up and down. "This is the friend you spoke of? She doesn't look like much."

"That's a bit rich coming from you." said Kelly. Annabeth noted that with his growing bald spot, chubbiness and overall ugly features that this was as true a statement as any.

"Bah! I don't care about your opinion, Jones," Krieg spat. "I only care about getting my money; I _know_ you have it somewhere."

Kelly sighed in exasperation. "I told you once and I'll tell you again I _don't have_ your money, alright? Not everyone can make a hundred thousand drachmas in the space of two weeks, you know."

"You could," Krieg pointed out. "You've done it before, haven't you Jones? Stole it from right under the nose of the slime-ball."

"Why do you call her that?" Annabeth interrupted before she could stop herself.

"Call her what?"

" _Jones_. Her name is Kelly."

"Ha!" Krieg laughed. "Not very bright, are you? And I thought you said she was worth something," He gave an ugly grin in Kelly's direction. "Well, little girl, I call her _Jones_ because that is her name. Kelly Jones."

"You have a last name?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes," Kelly said. "And they both make up my actual name and not some five syllable one like they use in Ancient Greece."

"Time moves on," Krieg agreed. "Names change. Now! Back to business… why haven't you got my money yet?"

"I just told you that getting one hundred thousand in two weeks is-"

"Then why haven't you gotten _anything_ ," Krieg demanded. "Haven't you been attempting to pay me back at all, Jones? I hired you because of your track record and here you are, a _failure_ , without the money that you let be stolen by those _street rats_."

 _Street rats_ , Annabeth thought. _How could they have gotten into a place like this when they don't even have a home?_

"You're generalizing again," Kelly said. "Just because they don't have flashy mansions does not make them street rats. Some of them are actually very intelligent."

"They had to be to get into my treasury," Krieg growled. "And to take _everything_ they must have had help. You haven't been changing sides have you, Jones?"

"Changing sides?" Kelly raised both eyebrows. "My ugly former employer, I can assure you that I was never on _your side_ to begin with."

 _ **Boom!**_

An explosion rocked the building as something dark red and shiny ploughed straight through the north wall and trampled General Krieg like he was nothing. His form disappeared beneath smoking tires and something metal passed so close to Annabeth's face that she could literally see her own grey eyes staring back at her for a moment before it passed her by. Dust fell down from the ceiling and objects rattled on all sides as the car skidded to a stop in the middle of the room and a head of brown curly hair stuck out from the driver's window.

"Hi Kelly!" The girl smiled mockingly. "Did I make you look cool enough?"

"Shut up, Phoebe," Kelly growled as she strode up to the driver's side, opened the door and shoved her into the passenger seat. "I'm driving. Annabeth, get in the back."

"Annabeth?" Phoebe asked. "Is that even a real name?"

The gas was floored and the car accelerated back through the hole it made. Amazingly, the engine didn't seem to be damaged at all and the exterior had seemed completely flawless when Annabeth climbed in. If it was a car designed for gods then perhaps only celestial bronze could damage it?

"Status update." said Kelly.

"The girls are attacking the barracks and looting the armoury first, then we're making our way down towards the treasury and forges to see if we missed anything," Phoebe reported. "Newt and his group are picking off any stragglers with ranged attacks so it's easier to get through the halls."

"And the directors?" Kelly asked. "We'll never take down Thranta Faction if their leader's escape- they'll just rebuild again."

"They're trapped in the north watch tower," Phoebe said. "If we get there soon we can take them out. We have Wrap Grenades that will take them out."

"What's a Wrap Grenade?" Annabeth asked, trying not to slide about on the back seats.

"One of these," Phoebe held up a yellow and grey canister with a pin in it. "Disables low intelligence immortals easily."

"Low intelligence?"

"Yeah, smart gods can sense one of these coming a mile away. Dumb gods can't multi-task so you just have to distract them and throw one."

"Oh."

"Stop talking and gear up, would you? Annabeth's staying in the car." Kelly said.

"Why?" asked Annabeth. "I want to kick faction butt. That is what we're doing, right?"

"Indeed it is." Phoebe agreed.

"Thranta faction decided to try and push around some underprivileged immortals a few weeks ago and we thought we'd teach them a lesson," Kelly explained. "Then they tried to kidnap and torture a new born goddess and we decided to change it from teaching them a lesson to kicking their butts back to hell."

"So you were working for them to find a way in?" Annabeth asked.

"I was _pretending_ to work for them, but yes. They had a lot more in their treasury than I thought they would, though."

"More for us," Phoebe chirped. "We could actually get a permanent place of residence big enough for all of us, now."

"How many of you are there?"

"Thirty all together; but girls and boys stay in different places. _Take this left!_ "

The car swerved and Annabeth was thrown to the right as Kelly used the emergency brake to make one of the sharpest turns in history. Rubble was thrown about in all directions and more dust fell from the ceiling onto the top of the car, turning what should have been a pristine paint-job into a dirty roof with spots of red dotted about like splattered blood. At one point a short, dark haired girl jumped right over the bonnet of the car as they were speeding along and gave them a cheeky grin as she did so. No doubt one of the 'street rats' that Krieg had been complaining about.

They arrived at a set of stone stairs and, instead of stopping, proceeded to drive straight up it with surprising success that Annabeth knew was something that usually only worked in the movies; it was driving _down_ the stairs that was the easy part. Chaos reigned supreme now and the sounds of gunshots were muffled by the cars exterior so that Annabeth's eardrums only throbbed painfully instead of bursting and running blood and puss down the sides of her face. The car jogged dangerously as they drove up steps that were becoming increasingly further apart and the higher ones would cause Annabeth's head to snap back dangerously as she attempted to remain upright; in order to prevent further damage, she leant back against the cushions, did up her seatbelt and put her hands over her ears. They were really starting to hurt now.

Finally, they broke out of the narrow stairway and burst through another pair of doors that contained a spherical room with a long metal table stretching from one end to the other and a group of around twelve guys sitting at it. Annabeth then realised that every member of the Thranta faction was a man and wondered if they had attempted to take the new born goddess because they had something against women. The car stopped with a jerk.

"Okay," Kelly started to get out as Phoebe launched herself from the car and threw grenades in all directions. "You stay here and the car will protect you. Why're you covering your ears?"

"Hurts." Annabeth mumbled.

Kelly muttered something under her breath and turned on the radio so that it played loud enough to block out most of the noise from outside but was not loud enough to hurt Annabeth further. It was some kind of classical music station.

"There, all better. See ya!" She closed the door behind her quickly and jump kicked the nearest director who was knocked unceremoniously from their feet.

Annabeth shifted about in the seat and lay down on the back so that her pounding head could get a rest. She felt like some kind of madwoman who had orchestrated a brutal attack and was sat listening to Beethoven as it was being carried out like the most evil mastermind in the comic book world. It was in this moment of complete absurdity and peace that Annabeth's mind was left to wonder; and if there was _one thing_ in the world that was more dangerous and despairing than death and ignorance it was being alone with your thoughts. Annabeth's thoughts went straight to the thing that she had been attempting to ignore for the past day or so- Percy. She'd actually _killed him_ in that cavern, there was no doubt, and he'd swung for her with his sword so many times that in any other case it would be considered self-defence. But this wasn't any other case; this was the death of the greatest hero in modern history and Camp Half-Blood would be _furious_ when they found out it was her. She might even be executed by the Romans for attacking a comrade if they did not believe Percy had lashed out at her.

There was a small explosion right next to the outside of the car and it jogged about slightly but nothing was broken and nothing got in. Annabeth wanted so desperately to close her eyes but knew that closing your eyes when you had a headache or pain of that type was a very bad idea as your body would then focus solely on the pain and the pounding would become louder. There was a moment of silence outside before the door opened and a familiar face popped in.

"Hey Annabeth." Sabine grinned.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth frowned.

"Kicking butt; it's almost over now so there's no more fun in it and Kelly told me over the radio that you were in here. Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," Annabeth groaned. "My heads on fire and my ears sting."

"You don't have that thing where you swallow and your eardrums go in and you can hear every breath and sound your body makes on the inside, do you?" Sabine asked. "Because that _sucks_."

"No I don't have that," said Annabeth. "My ears just hurt because it's so loud."

"Oh," Sabine pulled the door shut behind her and grabbed something in her pocket. "Well I have just the thing!"

"It had better not be some medieval remedy."

"That was one time and it's not. It's nectar and ambrosia."

"Seriously?" Annabeth sat up to see that there was, indeed, godly food in Sabine's outstretched hands. "Where did you get this?"

"I'm a god."

"Oh… oh yeah," Annabeth frowned; she always found it difficult to remember that Sabine was immortal and therefore had access to as much nectar and ambrosia as she damn well pleased. "Thanks."

"Whatever," said Sabine. "Why are you listening to classical music? This stuff is terrible."

"Kelly put it on."

"Oh _great_. I hate the fact that the driver controls the radio; especially when their taste in music is from two hundred years before they were even born."

"It's just classical," Annabeth protested as she munched on a square of ambrosia. "Mother likes it."

"Mum likes everything that isn't from this century," Sabine insisted. "Including me."

"Oh come on," Annabeth swallowed forcefully. "She does _like_ you she just doesn't get you the way I do. I mean, she probably wasn't expecting a kid like you."

"She wasn't ready, you mean," Sabine smiled. "Kind of ironic how the only thing the goddess of wisdom doesn't understand is her one immortal child."

"Completely," Annabeth agreed. "Where's your food?"

"Right here." Sabine pulled a huge bag of McDonald's and two coke bottles from thin air.

"Hey!" Annabeth swiped for it but wasn't fast enough; this wasn't fair, it smelt _delicious_.

"You get godly food and I get mortal food."

"Then let's swap," said Annabeth, already feeling much better. "You can have this food back and I get that."

"You've eaten some of it."

"Then take a pack of fries or a burger and we're even."

"Hmm," Sabine pretended to think it over for a moment, frustrating Annabeth. "It's a deal. And _you're_ getting the small fries because the large is mine."

"Fine."

The fight ended not long after that; it was strangely satisfying to watch Kelly return to start the engine of the car and find that the radio was now playing Bon Jovi and the back stunk of fries and burgers that were almost completely devoured by now. She stole two boxes of burgers and a tub of ice cream in retaliation which was less than appreciated. Annabeth took the time to look out the window since she hadn't done it before and noticed that the meeting room had been completely wrecked by the girls. The table was in splinters, motionless bodies littered the floor and a chair had wedged itself into the wall between a shelf and file cabinet. Just a few fires and destroyed buildings short of complete decimation.

They reversed out and back down the stairs which was much more bearable now there weren't any gunshots or things that pained Annabeth's head.

"So where are we going now?" Annabeth asked.

"I was thinking Burma," Phoebe mused. "Or maybe Vietnam? We haven't had the chance for a visit to a rural country in ages."

"Everyone gets a vote," Kelly said. "If the majority want to go to Vietnam then we will. Mind you, we'll have to inoculate Annabeth first since there are some pretty major diseases there."

"That'll be fun."

"Wait, you just brought down a faction and now you're going on holiday?" Annabeth questioned.

"We're always on holiday," Sabine said. "This is our life, or it _was_ mine till you showed up, and we spend all of our time visiting new places and exploring. We go climbing and trekking and swimming and sailing- you'll love it."

"That's all you do? All the time?"

"That it is my friend," Phoebe answered. "Why do you think we ran away from homes on Olympus?"

"You ran away?"

Kelly glared at Phoebe. "We hadn't got that far yet. I've known her, what, three days now? And the other girls have to say that their okay with bringing a demi-god along since that's not only _illegal_ but puts us in danger of being caught from breaking one of the Olympian's Ancient Laws."

"Oh," Phoebe frowned. "I thought we were going to try and find an excuse for things like that?"

"If you find one you are welcome to share it."

"If the Olympians couldn't find an excuse in all the years they wanted to help their demi-god children then I doubt you'll find one." Annabeth said.

"Dream-killer." Phoebe pouted.

"Forget that, we need to get to the girls and make sure nothing went wrong. Then we can go to a fast food restaurant, get something decent to eat and vote on whether or not Annabeth stays." said Kelly.

"Hey, you had food already!" Sabine protested.

"I'm talking about enough to be considered a _meal_ , Sabine. Not something that makes you fat and kills you if that's all you ever eat. We'll get junk food and go to the supermarket to but Pot Noodles and ready meals afterwards."

"Can we get some king sized ones this time please?" Phoebe asked. "The small ones run out too fast and we need more energy than other gods who just sit on their butts all day signing forms."

"Yes, we can get king sized ones," Kelly agreed. "We'll have to find a decent shop for outdoor adventure as well; everyone's either lost or broken their stuff from the last time we went to a country that doesn't have a hotdog stand every mile."

Sabine laughed. "Mortals have such crazy ideas. They'd turn any beautiful landscape country into a metropolis and claim it was civilised when half their population's fatter than a blue whale."

"Forget humans," Phoebe said, turning in her seat to face Annabeth. "Let's find out how fast a demi-god can adapt to life with the best street-rats in the business. Welcome to the family, girl!"


	12. The Hunt Begins

Chapter 11- The Hunt Begins

The wind was harsher than it should have been in October. A fierce breeze whipped the leaves from their trees and sent dust and gravel flying into the eyes of the unsuspecting. No birds chirped and no mortals walked. It was as if the world had retreated, leaving a blanket of air to disrupt the sounds of those within it and to prevent the innocent from wandering into the barren place. For those that dwelt within were far from innocent themselves…

"Why did you have us meet here?" A shade, hooded in his black cloak, demanded of another.

"Secrecy," The other replied. "The world is growing stranger, Umbra."

"The world is run by weaklings," Umbra stated. "Why should it not change in these ways as it is guided by the litter? We shall return it to its former glory soon enough. Fear not of the Olympians."

"It is not the Olympians who have created the change I have sensed," said the other. "Nor was it an orchestrated event. I sense things moving… events being set into motion that could be our undoing."

"What have you foreseen, Sacerdos?" Umbra queried. "What visions has the master granted you?"

"Not the master," Sacerdos muttered darkly. "A being just as powerful, if not more, has felt the need to threaten us."

"Threaten us?" Umbra's face darkened. "Who? I shall smite such insolence myself!"

"It matters not their identity, for they have hidden it well, but what _does_ matter is their message."

"It is a lie," Umbra insisted. "This trickster is attempting to fog your mind for _you_ are our sight in the world. Do not be fooled."

"I am not fooled," Sacerdos insisted. "But I have seen recent events that hold true to the vision I was shown whilst many more remain unsolved."

"Tell me, then," said Umbra. "Tell me what this cretin has shown you."

Sacredos sighed and closed his eyes in concentration as the images flowed through his mind.

"I see a stain on the land, our apprentice destroying the half-bloods in his great triumph and his downfall follows. A girl with fire in her heart and love in her pocket."

"We have seen these," Umbra reminded. "Tell me what the threat was. What was spoken to you?"

Sacredos sighed once more.

"Pain for Olympus- their children have fled. Gold flames fill the mountain as hope faces dread. The runt and messiah are one and the same. And friendship survives to be your bane."

"Friendship? How pathetic."

"Indeed, my brother," Sacredos opened his eyes. "But any threat from a higher being is not to be ignored. They have created a prophecy that ensures my destruction."

"We shall reverse it," Umbra insisted. "This fool has proved themselves weak through these words. Their support for Olympus will be their downfall."

"We shall see," Sacredos raised his head to look at the night sky. "And yet, I can already feel that my fate has been sealed. My time is ending."

"You are immortal, brother. Any prophecy with the power to usurp such power will come from a being we are aware of. I shall speak with our lord."

"And I shall prepare," The two turned to face the wind. "My stronghold under the mountain has been placed in jeopardy. I shall reinforce its defences and continue with our plan."

"When we have the daughter of Athena this being will rue the day they scowled at us," Umbra said. "And Annabeth Chase will find that her efforts count for nothing once the blood stone has her."

* * *

"Left…! Left…! Left…!"

Annabeth sighed. It was fairly obvious that this wasn't going anywhere. If Sabine hadn't given her the puppy-dog eyes look then she wouldn't have agreed to get involved in it at all. Kelly had explicitly told them _not_ to wander off into the crumbling ruins of Italian monuments from all over history and what had they done? Wandered off into the biggest one they could find. Not only that, but they'd managed to get into one that had an automatically closing door; did she mention that it wouldn't open again? So, they'd been forced to continue forwards in search of a way out and all Annabeth could think of was how stupid an idea it has been to let Sabine lead. Just because sticking to the left worked in mazes did _not_ mean it would work in creepy Italian catacombs.

"Left…! Left…! Le-"

"Will you stop that?!" Annabeth snapped, finally losing it. "We're lost, Sabine. Admit it."

"No we're not," Sabine protested. "By always going left we can just go back and take every right to find where we came from."

"Yes but we can't get _out_ that way," Annabeth reminded. "I can't believe you wouldn't just teleport us out when the door shut."

"If a god teleports it gives away their exact location to everyone in the area and those looking down from the sky," Sabine rolled her eyes as if this should have been known. It did sound vaguely familiar… "How suspicious is it gonna look if a god just pops up in the middle of Italy with a demi-god as their passenger? I'll tell you how suspicious. _Deadly_ suspicious."

Annabeth sighed. "Fine, fine. Could you at least use your senses to find a way out, instead? I'm getting tired of hearing 'left' every two seconds."

"I have found a way out," said Sabine. "Here."

She pointed up to a spot on the stone ceiling that held a wooden trap door that did not look like it came from any time in the past few hundred years. The wood had rotted and there was a massive hole where one third of the material should have been. Through it, Annabeth could see daylight and the sight of dust rolling in the air. Well, it was better than nothing.

"Nice. Hope you don't mind climbing up."

"I am the _master_ climber in this situation."

"Yeah, whatever Sabine."

It took them less than a minute to climb up to the trapdoor and twice the time to get it open without getting any splinters. There was a mournful groan as the wood came free and clattered to the ground beneath them as Annabeth climbed up first and tugged her little sister up behind her. They were on the bottom floor of some kind of church that had sleek marble floors and a painted ceiling. However, there was something different about this church than all the others Annabeth had been in. At the altar, there were twelve gold blocks with symbols carved into them- a dove, a hammer, an eagle- and the ceiling held pictures of men wielding lightning bolts and fire raining down from the heavens onto the sinners and thieves. This, Annabeth realised, was a temple to the Olympian gods.

"Woah!" Sabine cried, skipping forwards. "This place is, like, totally decked out!"

Annabeth cringed. She knew Sabine liked something when she started using as much slang as possible. That was the way she showed her appreciation, it seemed. Unless it was an incredibly powerful and destructive weapon, that is. Then she'd turn into the most formal and educated girl on the planet which was so out-of-character it shouldn't have been legal.

"Calm down," Annabeth scolded, even as she took in the intricate architectural structure of the temple and the valuable metals that had been carved into sculptures and monuments. "This temple survived the crusade of the Christians and numerous wars that toppled the most famous buildings in history. I don't want to have it taken down by you in the space of a day."

"Come on, Annabeth, you overestimate me."

"No, I just know what you're like. How many explosives are in your pockets?"

"I don't have any pockets."

"Liar."

They wandered around the edges of the cathedral for the new few minutes, marvelling at the paintings and statues. Sabine kept pointing out people that she knew and some of their talents which didn't _really_ classify as skill but this was the most passive the girl had ever been so Annabeth decided to roll with it. They came to a sudden stop.

"Hey look," Sabine pointed at the far end of the corridor they were walking down. "It's mum."

Annabeth looked up from the detailed painting of Apollo fighting the Python on the floor and saw the face of her mother staring back at her. It was perfect down to the last detail and she was stood in a regal pose with a writing table in one hand and a spear in the other. That settled it; this place was not built by the Romans. They only ever thought of Athena as Minerva who didn't fight and was a craftsman and artist.

"It looks just like her," Annabeth noted as they walked towards it at a much slower rate than before. "I wonder who built this place."

"No idea," Sabine answered honestly. "Blimey… she looks just like she did when I left."

Annabeth felt a twinge of sympathy bubble up from her stomach. Of course, the sight of their mother would always bring them back to the subject of Sabine's running away from home.

"Well, I suppose if she likes the way she looks then she won't change it," Annabeth reasoned. "Not that you wouldn't be able to recognise her anyway, being a god."

"Yeah but I'm never close enough to do it. This statue's thousands of years old and there's nothing wrong with it. I can't sense any magic on it either."

"Good stonework I guess. Oh look, there's a door."

She pointed towards the corner of the building where a wooden door stood in pristine condition with the faintest rays of light shining through its edges. It took a moment to pry Sabine away from their mother's statue before the two strode over to the door and departed the cathedral, leaving everything the way it was before they entered. The sun told them that it was still mid-day outside and the field they were in had grass so deep a shade of green that it looked damp all the time, even though it was pleasantly warm outside. Annabeth turned behind her a moment to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything only to see the door vanishing before her eyes. So much for Sabine's 'no magic' theory.

"What do you want to do now?" Annabeth asked. "Kelly said we were going to stay here for the next week until everyone gets their things together for the trip to Vietnam."

"I saw a fast food restaurant in the village we could go to. I'm starving." Sabine answered.

"Starving?" A new voice interrupted them and Annabeth fought hard not to show her jump of surprise. "How terrible. Must be something if you forget about training."

Annabeth turned to see the grinning face of Newt standing to their left. His light brown hair looked red in the sun.

"Training?" asked Annabeth. "What, for the trip?"

"For everything, you moron," Newt shook his head with mock disapproval. "Honestly. Didn't they teach you anything at that demi-god camp?"

Annabeth bristled. "Newt, if you aren't going to get to the point then-"

"He means _training_ as in things like sword fighting, climbing, exercise, acrobatics, ranged weapon practice… you know, the basic stuff. Then there are all these feints and flourishes you learn to throw off more powerful gods so that you have time to make a run for it." Sabine explained.

"Where did you guys learn this stuff?"

"We picked it up on our travels," Newt said. "Not very surprising considering how many of us there are in the Street Rat Pack. And all gods, too, until you came along. Although, we do have some friends who aren't immortal and they're practically family anyway."

"You picked this stuff up…" Annabeth repeated. "And you teach it to one another all the time?"

"Every day, really. Training is supposed to be three times a day if we can help it and all day if we have something really big going on. For instance, if we're going hiking then we do treks all around to get ready and if we're going climbing up a mountain then we'd practice that as well."

"So, what will I be doing?"

"What all demi-gods are good at. Sword-fighting!"

"I don't have a sword."

"We have loads, it's not a problem," Newt shrugged. "So, are you going to come quietly or do I have to get some others to drag you. It _is_ compulsory after all; the only thing we rats agree on."

Annabeth sighed and glanced at Sabine, who was trying hard not to laugh. "Fine," She agreed. "Let's go. Who am I fighting?"

"Anyone who trains in duelling. We'll have to check how good you are _first_ though, so you'll be tearing apart a straw dummy and then fighting me. Sound good?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

The rest of the day was spent doing far more than just wandering around with Sabine like Annabeth had planned. First, she was given a sword that was purposefully heavy and made to swing at a dummy with it to improve the strength of her arms and see how much her skills had deteriorated over the months on the run. Apparently, they had deteriorated by quite a lot and Annabeth got her butt kicked by Newt five times before he took her sword away for good and had her practice climbing by running over the old buildings in the town square. Fortunately, the mortals didn't seem to notice a sweaty teenage girl jumping from wall to wall whilst being screamed at by a boy who looked eighteen but Annabeth almost wished they had so she could get a break.

Then, Newt handed Annabeth over to another member of the pack from their seemingly endless supply who shot bullets, _actual bullets_ , at Annabeth when she couldn't dodge the rocks she was throwing at her. This girls name, she found out later, was Roxy and she was a daughter of Ares which explained a lot. Needless to say that dodging training did not go well and Annabeth returned to the tent she was sharing with Sabine feeling sore and disgruntled; all she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep and try not to think about how bad she was at everything. Not to mention that all this training was reminding her of Camp Half-Blood and making her so homesick that she couldn't really focus on any of the activities at all. The only difference between the two types of training was that the one in the Street Rat Pack was more brutal, more demanding. This was justified through the fact that most members were gods and would often get into trouble with other _more powerful_ gods in the eternity that they would spend living. Therefore, the best was just never enough.

"You look half-dead," Sabine joked as Annabeth dropped onto the mattress beside her. "Was it really that bad?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied, voice muffled by the material. "Do you know how long it's been since I've done any of that stuff?"

"Three months at least," said Sabine. "You had to get back in the whack of it at _some point_ , Annabeth. It's better to just get it out the way now."

"I know that," Annabeth grumped as she shifted to rest her head on her hand. "I just thought life here would be a bit different to training all day. You said all you did was walk about and visit wherever you wanted whenever you wanted."

"That is what we do," Sabine grinned. "But you're a newbie and a demi-god which means Newt's trying to get you into shape early so you don't get picked off. He hates it when mortals die and he does nothing to stop it. The guys got a big heart."

"Well I wish I had been given some warning," Annabeth replied. "My arms hurt."

"They'll hurt more come morning trust me. I'm doing some ranged stuff tomorrow so I can always shoot you to end the misery if you want?"

"Or you could jump into a muddy ditch fifty times in one day only to crawl out and do it all again and call it _training_ ," Annabeth growled. "Shoot me one damn time."

"I'm failing to see the downside."

"I'll steal your paints."

"I'm a goddess."

" _I'll steal your paints_."

Sabine sighed. "You know, repeating yourself isn't going to get the point across. Especially when it's _me_ you're talking to."

"I believe in perseverance."

"Then why are you complaining about the training?"

"Because it's not training it's _torture_ ," Annabeth insisted. " _And_ I've been conscripted into the three month training plan. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"We'll have another thing to celebrate at Christmas?"

"No, well… _yes_ but that's beside the point. It takes at least five days for a body that does not do exercise to get used to such a routine training plan. I'm toast!"

"I prefer jam," Sabine mused. "Being toast is boring and good for the other team. But when you're _jammy_ they get so annoyed you can see the veins throbbing in their temple. Just think of the insults they'll say!"

"Is that all you do, try to get rises out of people?" Annabeth cocked an eyebrow.

"No. Only my enemies."

"Well if we're enemies then get the hell out of my tent."

"We're not enemies we're _sisters_ but I understand the confusion. There's a very fine line between having a sibling and having a nemesis."

" _Fine?_ " Annabeth demanded. "I can't even see the bloody thing."

"That's because you're tired and you stink. Hold your breath while I douse you in deodorant."


	13. To the Mountain

_**Note: Percy does not know that Annabeth is alive at this point and does not Iris message her because no-one outside of the Street Rats knows that she still lives although some immortals are beginning to wonder as shown in Chapter 8.**_

Chapter 12- To the Mountain

Jason could honestly say that he had never felt better than he did right now. It was mid-December, nearing Christmas, and he had finally been released from the infirmary on a strict diet and regime of ten hours sleep per night. Honestly, he didn't care what they said he had to do so long as he finally got _out_ of there and stopped looking like the most pathetic demi-god ever. People would come in to see their friends and give him a pitying look like 'oh look its Jason Grace the son of Jupiter, he doesn't look so healthy on that bed with the Golden Fleece around him'. Jason had hated those looks and was glad to be rid of them.

Now he was free, however, there was something even _better_ than not getting pity looks and being in agony all day. As he crept up behind Piper and shushed Leo who was talking to her, Jason could not keep the maniac grin from spreading on his face as he jumped her from behind.

"Ah!" Piper screamed as she went barrelling forwards but was caught just before she could hit the floor. "What the-"

"Surprise!" Jason exclaimed, trying not to fall over as he pulled Piper back up to a standing position.

"Jason!" Piper swatted at him with her hands. "Don't _do_ that!"

"What?" Jason smiled wider. "I spend months in the hospital and I can't toy with my girlfriend when I get out?"

"Dude," Leo's face was red. "That has two meanings. Let's not scar your boy Leo just yet, okay?"

"Sorry man, didn't realise," Jason didn't go red, however. "What do you want to do, Pipes? Get lunch, spar, go swimming, what?"

"Uh…" Piper snorted into her hand. "Jason, calm down. I know you're excited that you got out but let's not go overboard. You're still recovering."

" _Piper_ ," He whined. "Don't be such a killjoy."

"Yeah Piper," Leo agreed. "The man just got out of the slammer. Let him have some fun." He winked.

Jason blanched. "Didn't you just say that innuendos scarred you for life?"

"No. I said things with two meanings scar me. That only had one in my opinion."

"You little-"

"Boys," Piper reprimanded. "Let's not fight. This is supposed to be a good day, remember? And Reyna wants to speak with us before we do anything."

"Why?" Jason frowned. Reyna was caught up in building defences and training half-bloods to defend Camp Jupiter in the event of an attack similar to that on Camp Half-Blood. Granted, imposter Percy was now dead but that didn't eliminate the danger. The only reason she would want to speak with them would have to be related to an attack which would not be good for Jason's newly mended health.

"Aw man," Leo pouted. "I'm supposed to be having dinner with Calypso tonight. You don't think it'll take long, do you?"

"You'll be fine, Leo," Piper reassured. "She said it would only take a few minutes. Then you can go back to romancing your lady."

"Now _that_ only has one meaning."

"Shut it repair-boy."

There were a lot more people in the praetor's office than Jason had been expecting. Chiron, the centaur, had wheeled up to the edge of the desk to give other people room and Jason noted that Frank, Hazel and Percy had already arrived. Whatever the situation was, it most definitely was not a good one; just as Jason had feared.

"Oh come on," Leo whined loudly. "I've got dinner with the missus tonight!"

"Not everyone's going on the mission, Leo," said Hazel. "We only need a dozen volunteers."

"Not that your contribution would be missed." Clarisse grumbled; she was in a _swell_ mood since being booted from the counsellors meeting with Percy.

"Right," Frank got to his feet, his praetor's cloak looked crumpled for some reason. "We've received word from our allies in Pennsylvania. They've discovered an encampment filled with monsters and weapons at the base of one of the mountains and we've decided to take down their forces before they become a threat."

"And the hooded creatures?" Percy asked. "Have you heard anything about them?"

"It is rumoured that one was spotted passing through the monster camp," Reyna said. "With the right push we could get them to reveal the nature of the visit and where we can find the creature now."

"Great," said Dakota. "Then we find out how they got through the Greeks borders, right? I mean, if they can get through theirs then they can get through ours."

"Terminus will do his job," Reyna said confidently. "There will be no demi-god imposters breaking through our ranks."

"Okay, then what's our attack plan? If they're at the base of a mountain then flanking manoeuvres are off the table." said Piper.

"We shall attack under the cover of darkness," Chiron explained. "The monsters will be able to smell you regardless of light conditions but their eyes will be sufficiently fooled. With the number of demi-gods in the country at Christmas break, there is a very large chance that they will shrug off this smell and resume their duties as guards. Thus, you will be able to launch a surprise attack and capture one alive to discover the identity or location of the creature."

"Sounds easy enough," said Percy. "But nightfall's in less than three hours. We'll have to work fast to get ready for the attack _and_ get to Pennsylvania before sunrise."

"I have the utmost faith in your abilities," said Chiron. "Now, who are our volunteers? Be warned that not all of you may return."

A spatter of people raised their hands. Percy, Hazel, Frank, Dakota, Katie, Connor and Travis Stoll, Lou Ellen and one of her siblings. That made nine in total. Jason threw his hand up at the last minute alongside Piper. Now they had eleven. That was enough.

"Alright," said Reyna. "All of you gear up and make sure to take plenty of Greek fire with you. There are Laistrygone giants inside the camp and it will take a lot to bring them down."

There was vocal agreement and everyone started filing out of the office. Jason was pulled to the side by Piper and watched as the rest of the crowd sauntered off to make their preparations whilst his friends came to stand beside him. He did a head count and realised that all of the members of the seven now stood beside him, those who he had spent months with aboard the Argo 2, except for one they now sought to avenge.

"Hey man," said Leo. "You don't look so happy."

"It's nothing," Jason insisted. "Just remembering all the times on the Argo 2 is all."

"Oh… _oh_ ," Leo's eyebrows shot up. "You mean, like, when Annabeth was with us?"

Silence filled the air.

"Yeah, that's what I mean."

"She'd be proud of you," Piper stated. "Of all of us, I expect. She risked her life to save ours dozens of times and now we have the chance to avenge her death. To protect her memory."

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "The only reason those thugs managed to take down Annabeth Chase is because they were sneaky and played dirty. They blew up the entire cabin for some blood and then never found any to use."

"Which means she died for nothing," Percy spat. "They murdered her and threw it in my face like it was an everyday occurrence to destroy someone's life."

"I expect it is an everyday occurrence for them," Hazel spoke softly. "Monsters rarely feel for the lives of mortals."

"These are worse than monsters," said Jason. "Monsters don't organise themselves in such ways and attack fully armed camps of demi-gods just to get their hands on one half-blood."

"That's what I was thinking," Leo said. "Dude, what if these aren't people we can _actually kill_? What if they're immortal? What then?"

"Then we hand them over to Annabeth's mother," Percy said darkly. "I heard she was furious when the cabin blew up, wouldn't be civil with anyone."

"She lost all her children in one go," Piper reminded. "Who wouldn't be angry? I'd be surprised if she wasn't searching for these creeps right now or trying to find as much information as possible on them."

"What do you think she'd do if she had one of them?" asked Hazel.

"Nothing good I reckon," said Percy. "Which is just what they deserve."

"It doesn't matter what they deserve," Jason said, feeling a higher purpose build up within him. "What matters is making sure they never hurt innocent people again. We can't let these creatures be the first to successfully topple Olympus on our watch."

"Dude," Leo smiled. "Cut it out with the noble speech thing. You're making me feel bad for wanting revenge."

"Nobility or not," Percy continued. "This one's for Annabeth."

A chorus of voices replied.

"For Annabeth."

* * *

"Hey Annie! Annie!"

Annabeth sighed and tried not to stomp her foot in frustration. She used that alias _one time_ and suddenly everyone had the excuse to use it. As if it wasn't enough that she had to buy Christmas presents for Sabine and all the writing was in German, now she had Newt picking on her for training _and_ using terrible names for her.

Wonderful.

"What? What is it?" Annabeth asked irritably as she shifted the bags of shopping she was holding; they were really quite heavy now.

"Calm down, Chase, I'm just getting your attention," Newt grinned like the suave idiot he was. "Why aren't you wearing a scarf and hat?"

"I don't need them."

"Annabeth, its December in West Germany. Do you know how deep the snow is?"

Annabeth looked down and saw to her disdain that the snow came up to her shins. Her legs were soaked and she was cold and shivering but somehow in her haze of 'I-must-get-Sabine-presents-or-she'll-cry' the thoughts had completely slipped her mind. Thank gods they were staying in a warm hotel for once.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What did you want to talk about?"

"The pack is splitting for Christmas break," Newt explained. "Some of us are going back to our siblings and others are going to foster parents. You, Sabine and Astrid are gonna be the only ones left here in two days."

"That's fine," said Annabeth. "We'll just go back to the magic pocket until you're back. It's warmer there."

"And more peaceful I'll bet," Newt laughed. "But that's no excuse to let your body go. If I come back and find that you've stopped exercising again I'm going to _beat_ you into shape."

"I thought you did that anyway."

"Whatever," He waved a hand in farewell. "See you in January."

"Yeah, see you then." Annabeth watched him go and mentally fist bumped. Three weeks without Newt beating the stuffing out of her? Now _that_ was a Christmas miracle she could appreciate.

Annabeth continued on her way once more and tried to keep her feet from freezing over by wiggling her toes every now and then. She had spent the past few days attempting to buy every present that Sabine had mentioned she liked when they went through a catalogue on the first of the month and had succeeded, for the most part. Once she delivered these ones back to their hotel room there would only be one that she had not managed to get and that was because it had sold out weeks before the holiday season rolled round. If Sabine had not made such an effort to make Annabeth happy then she would show her younger sister who was boss and thrash her with a pillow. To be honest, Annabeth really wanted to spend Christmas with family and Sabine was the one family member that wasn't a demi-god who had stuck with her through thick and thin. Therefore, Annabeth's idea of a perfect Christmas day was beating Sabine at games on the Wii such as Mario Kart and Warioware.

Oh how she wished that dream would come true.

The hotel they were staying in was not five stars but it _was_ four stars which meant it was more than decent and Annabeth was content to stay there until the need to move out like the rest of the Street Rat Pack became abrupt. She stomped off the snow from her boots in the lobby and hurried up the steps to her room. The lifts were packed with tourists and thus it was far quicker to take the stairway than wait for a free compartment. Annabeth noted halfway up her climb that the bags of shopping she was carrying had water dripping down the plastic and onto the floor; it was lucky that she had bought all the electronic stuff ages ago or this would have spelled disaster. It was equally lucky that Annabeth had mastered the art of opening doors with her hips because her hands were too full to push down the door handle and Sabine had left it unlocked as usual.

Annabeth kicked the door shut behind her and heard a satisfying _click_ as the door locked itself automatically. Why was that so difficult for her sister to do?

"Home!" Annabeth called into the rest of the room as she kicked off her shoes and dropped the shopping in the nearest empty wardrobe.

"Yeah, great, where's the spare toilet paper?!" Sabine called back.

"What?" Annabeth slowed her pace, frightened of what she might see. "Why do you ask?"

She rounded the corner at a snail's pace and saw Sabine sat on the couch staring down at a puddle of paint that was steadily sinking into the carpet and staining everything it came into contact with.

" _Sabine_."

"What? It spilled, okay!"

"You're a goddess. Snap your fingers and clean that up."

"But what if-"

"No-one is going to sense you if you just clean up a tiny spillage," said Annabeth. "Clean it."

Sabine sighed and did as she was told. The mess was non-existent seconds later.

"So what have you been up to?" Annabeth asked. "Aside from painting, that is."

"I'll have you know that I was talking to Astrid." Sabine said snootily.

"Astrid isn't here."

"She went to throw a snowball at some kids who thought it was funny to throw them at our window. She'll be back soon."

"Oh," Annabeth strode over to the bathroom door. "I'm gonna have a shower then. It's freezing out there."

Sabine grinned. "Have fun."

Annabeth made sure that all of her clothes were on the radiator so they would dry off before stepping under a stream of lukewarm water that she turned up a few moments later. This would be the first Christmas that Annabeth had spent without the comfort of people she had spent her life with. People like her father, Chiron, the other campers and Percy. She sighed and leant her head against the wall. Gods, this was getting out of hand. All the holiday season had brought to her aside from an extremely competitive streak against her sibling were memories of happier times when the world had not been on the verge of ending every day and Annabeth had not mattered nearly so much to the destiny of the earth as she did right now. Guilt welled up inside of her as she remembered Percy's words before he'd struck at her and she'd killed him. It had been true, of course, that Annabeth's blood was special but not very many people knew that powerful beings from across the globe could be awakened with her blood _alone_ instead of using two demi-gods that had the same genetic make-up as those who had awakened Gaia.

Basically, Annabeth was going to be hunted down and captured if the world ever found out that she was alive or if others discovered the secrets her blood now possessed. She'd lain awake many nights cursing Gaia and yet, in some twisted way, being glad that it was _her_ blood that had hit the ground first. She could not imagine how torturous it would be if one of her friends had been put in this position, for they would not have people like Sabine defending them, and the fact that Annabeth was in this position and constant state of danger meant that no-one else could be placed in it.

 _Bah! Why am I even thinking about this?_

The clothes were toasty warm from their stay on the radiator when she put them on again and Annabeth could honestly say she felt much better after her short stay in the shower. When Annabeth got back into the living room, Astrid was sat on the couch tinkering with something but forgot all about it when Annabeth walked in. There was a certain mischievous joy in her eyes.

"Guess what?" She asked.

"What?"

"I've found something that I think you'll be quite interested in."

Annabeth sighed. "Don't give me riddles, Astrid, I just got out of the shower."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "It's not a riddle, Annabeth. There's a camp of monsters at the base of a mountain in Pennsylvania."

"So?"

" _So_ , one of those cloaked figures you were talking about is with them. He's hiding inside the mountain with the soldiers outside to ward off intruders."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Where did you hear this?"

"Luna told me," said Astrid. "Apparently there's been a bit of interest from the Olympians but they don't know that the guy's in there. We can sneak in, find him and get the answers you want about the Love Stone."

"Sneak into a place that is being _watched_ by Olympus?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "You must be mad."

"We can cloak you," Sabine chirped. "And we can hide ourselves while we're at it. Besides, if it turns out that the guy escapes before we get there then wading through a group of monsters will be like a trip down memory lane for you."

"Yeah the bad part," Annabeth grumbled. "This doesn't seem like a good idea. We should wait until Olympus looks elsewhere."

"But this could be the only chance we have to get some real answers, Annabeth," Sabine pouted. "How are we supposed to find out why all our half-siblings were killed if we don't get this guy and ask him?"

"I already know why they were killed." Annabeth snapped before she could stop herself.

Astrid froze in her tinkering position. "You do?" She frowned. "How?"

"Uh…" Annabeth trailed off. "It doesn't matter. The point is that going after this guy is _suicide_ and you know it."

"Did you just try and turn this conversation around?"

" _No._ "

"Yeah you did," Astrid's frown deepened. "What are you hiding?"

"You mean aside from everything personal in my life? Nothing."

"But you can tell us," Sabine whined, sounding heartbroken. "I'm your sister!"

"Sabine, I told you, it doesn't matter!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Then why won't you agree to go to the mountain and-"

" _FINE!_ " Annabeth ran a hand through her hair. "We'll go to the stinking mountain, if that's what you want. Just stop pressuring me, okay?"

There was a brief moment of silence as both immortals stared at her like she'd grown a second head. Then-

"Well alright then," Sabine grinned. "I'll get the slushies."

"When do you want to get there for?" Astrid asked.

"Sometime at night. I don't want people to see what I look like." said Annabeth.

"To the mountain at night it is."


	14. Golden Flames

Chapter 13- Golden Flames

The night was suspiciously calm for mid-December. The air was still and cold and the stars that shone bright enough to make it through the man-made pollution were illuminating the night sky with their glow. Without a wind to waft their scent towards the camp, it seemed unlikely that the monsters would detect an attack and hopefully their plan would go off without a hitch. A faint blue light was reflecting off the edge of Annabeth's new sword that Astrid had given her after finding out that Annabeth still possessed no weapon. The blade was blue and the hilt was light brown; both were made of materials that Annabeth was unfamiliar with and created a perfectly balanced weight so that all blows were stronger and faster than ever before.

"They've got sentries on their border," Sabine announced through a walkie-talkie. "They're all facing away from the mountain. If we can get close enough to the surface of it then we should be able to blend into it in the darkness."

"Won't their campfires reveal our presence?" Annabeth asked.

"I'll deal with the fires," said Astrid. "You just hug the wall and creep towards their camp as quietly as possible."

The connection between the walkie-talkies was broken and Annabeth stuffed it into her back pocket. Their plan, as of now, was to split up and get into the camp one by one so that their presence would not be concentrated and break the magic that hid them from the monsters. It was mainly Annabeth that was the problem as her demi-god scent was incredibly difficult to hide and Astrid was being forced to divide her concentration between shielding the presence of two deities and masking the scent of a demi-god. Both tasks were incredibly difficult on their own but together they were damn near impossible.

Annabeth slid down the hill she had been crouched on slowly so as not to send dirt and stones flying about that would surely attract the attention of the monsters' superior senses. The camp was barely twenty metres away and Annabeth crept towards the face of the mountain as she advanced; her dark shape merged with the uneven form of the mountain and she came to a stop just five metres from their border. A step further and the light of the fires would hit her and expose her for all the world to see; Annabeth did not plan on missing a golden opportunity because some monsters knew how to start a fire. Where was Astrid?

A club footed Cyclopes approached the biggest camp-fire with lumber in his hands. The other monsters took no notice of him and Annabeth suspected that he was of very low rank and probably got blamed for everything. He stopped inches from the flames and dropped his stack of lumber in all at once. In that instant, the flames shot high into the sky and blasted everything nearby back by almost three feet. Dirt went flying into the eyes of other monsters, smoke choked their lungs and the flames blinded their eyes. Annabeth launched herself forwards off the rocky cliff and hit the ground running. There was a hole in the mountain that had been hidden by the position of the monsters' tents; it appeared to have been carved and was only big enough for someone of human size to pass through.

Annabeth darted through the space and skidded to a stop on the other side as she took in her surroundings. There was one big tunnel leading up and into the centre of the mountain and the shoddiness of the carving meant that there were gaps and crevices in the sides of the tunnel that someone could hide in. Outside, the monsters had overcome their momentary confusion and were now wailing on the Cyclopes in question; Annabeth found herself feeling sorry for the guy. There was a sound like a brush on concrete and Sabine came sliding into the tunnel, closely followed by Astrid. No-one followed them and Annabeth had to really focus to see the detail on their faces.

"Nice," said Sabine. "Lots of space to hide."

"If all goes as planned we won't need to," Annabeth said, walking forwards. "That creature must be in here somewhere."

They advanced up the rocky tunnel for the next twenty minutes at a cautious pace, ready for anything to jump out at them, and stopped as they reached the entrance to a wider room, a large hearth in its centre and all variety of potions and ingredients stacked on shelves around it. A set of large armchairs were set up facing the entrance and, in one of them, sat a figure in a tattered black cloak. His malicious grin was visible through the gap his low-pulled hood had left and Annabeth felt her body start to tremble with fear at the sight of him. Behind them, a steel portcullis slammed shut and the three of them were shunted forwards slightly by it.

In this moment of pure tension and fear, Sabine reacted in the only way she could.

"Ha ha! We got you!" She pointed victoriously.

"Sabine I don't think this is the time…" Astrid whispered.

"Welcome," The figure said, red light reflecting off his teeth. "I am Sacerdos."

"Sacerdos." Annabeth tried the name on her tongue; it felt terrible to say.

"I believe you have something that was dropped by one of my comrades."

The stone felt like lead in Annabeth's pocket. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The stone, dear girl," Sacerdos tutted. "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. I'd heard so much about your brains during those fights with the Titans and Giants that I was expecting someone a little different, if I'm honest."

"I am different," said Annabeth. "So different to the person I was that the people I knew wouldn't recognise me."

"That's not just because of your personality, I'd wager. Your skin has taken on a darker tone since the incident and your face is sharper, more aware."

"Incident?"

"When we blew up your cabin, girl," Sacerdos got to his feet, hands clasped behind his back. "Not that it was supposed to be of that magnitude, of course. You can't get blood from a charred corpse."

Annabeth stared for a moment, blinking twice. "Wait… _you_ blew up the cabin?!"

"Indeed," Sacerdos was still grinning. "Although I cannot take all the credit. The bomb was orchestrated by some of my fellows and I must say they did a rather good job of it."

"So it's you then," Annabeth felt her voice threaten to crack. "You're the ones who've been after my blood this whole time. You killed my siblings."

"Well, not _all_ of your siblings as I'm sure you can see," He nodded at Sabine. "But yes. We have been after your blood for quite some time. Ever since it was used to raise Gaia, in fact. However, and I must commend you for this, we believed you were dead until quite recently. That fight with Perseus gave you away instantly."

"Wait," Astrid spoke up. "You said you wanted her blood. Why? And if you wanted the Blood of Olympus then why not take it from Percy Jackson?"

"We tried," Sacerdos admitted. "Unfortunately it takes the blood of the person that hit the ground _first_ to activate our device."

"The blood stone you mean." Annabeth spat bitterly.

Sacerdos stiffened, his smile dropping. "How do you know about that?" His voice was cold and accusing, all crazy playfulness vanishing on the spot.

"None of your business," said Sabine. "Why do you want my sister's blood?"

"None of _your_ business," Sacerdos retorted. "It matters not that I tell you for you'll never be seen outside these walls again. I've had a little _surprise_ incorporated into my domain ever since I discovered the half-blood was travelling with two immortals." He snapped his fingers.

In the centre of the room, where the hearth lay, a large hole began to open up and the stone around the room dropped down all at once to leave a huge tunnel leading straight down further than anything Annabeth had witnessed before. Actually, there was _one_ tunnel that went as deep as this one.

"Tartarus?" Annabeth snorted. "They're gods. They'll just teleport out."

Sacerdos gave a cruel smile. "Not Tartarus, little demi-god. _Chaos_."

"Chaos?" Astrid repeated, voice slightly higher than normal. "I don't believe you."

"Feel free to look for yourself," Sacerdos reached for a spot on his side where a sword lay hidden beneath the folds of his cloak. "You'll see I speak the truth soon enough."

Then, several things happened at once. Sacerdos unsheathed his sword, doors churned open at the sides of the room and hundreds of monsters poured out, an explosion rocked the mountain and vials of Greek fire were thrown into the air. Annabeth drew her sword and charged Sacerdos.

Blue clashed with silver and sparks flew as the blades of their swords met and parted before meeting again. The rest of the room was alive with the sounds of fighting and carnage. Thirty dracaenae were blasted to pieces by a bomb and another hundred were set alight by scorching orange flames. Annabeth locked swords with Sacerdos just as another explosion made the ground rumble and tore away the balances of everyone in the room.

"What is going on out there?" She heard Sacerdos mutter under his breath before he got to his feet and lunged for her.

Annabeth had never been more grateful for the training and support her peers had given her in her life. She managed to meet his every blow and throw back some of her own but Annabeth was soon being pressed back and had to fall into a purely defensive fighting style. It was becoming more and more obvious to her that Sacerdos had godly strength and she silently prayed that he did not; if he _did_ have it that meant he was immortal. How was she supposed to kill him then?

Another wave of flames filled the room and every monster within was charred beyond recognition and crumpled to the floor in piles of dust. More spilled out from the holes in the walls to fill their ranks and attempted to box the two goddesses in and force them over the edge into the abyss. Fortunately, it took a very powerful monster to outfox a god and the ranks of creatures were continually burned, blown up, doused in potions from the shelves or turned to dust at the wave of a hand. There were more explosions coming from outside now and lots of screaming. Monsters were wailing so loudly their cries reverberated off the stone walls and both into and out of the mountain stronghold. Now, with her mind racing, Annabeth began to wonder what exactly _was_ going on outside. Sacerdos didn't seem to know and the only people with _her_ were Astrid and Sabine.

Annabeth almost paid for these thoughts when the blade of her enemy passed so close to her face that she felt the air sliding around it and pulled back immediately to avoid losing any blood. The instant this creature landed a hit on Annabeth it was only a matter of time before he used her blood to raise his master. Again, Sacerdos managed to lock blades with her and began pushing down with all of his strength to force Annabeth down. Her legs trembled as she bent her knees to resist but his strength far outmatched hers and she slowly began to slip further and further towards the ground. Just as the blades came right up to her skin, a blast of fire lit the head of Sacerdos' cloak on fire and his concentration was broken. Annabeth pushed up and shunted him backwards as she stumbled away and tried to regain her balance.

There were no monsters left in the room now and Astrid and Sabine were completely unscathed and ready to fight some more. Annabeth turned her head back to Sacerdos and levelled her sword.

"It's over." She announced.

Sacerdos chuckled. " _Not yet_."

He threw up both hands and a blast of energy caught Annabeth in the chest so hard that she went flying across the room and collided with an empty shelf before slumping to the floor, groaning in pain. Another wave of energy caught Sabine but she shrugged it off to the side where it destroyed part of the wall and shot Sacerdos in the chest. Unfazed by this, the creature slashed with his sword and sent the two goddesses tumbling out of the way. Astrid landed right on the edge of the hole leading down to Chaos and scrambled to her feet, ducking out of the way of another attack. The fight got faster, with godly speed and agility being thrown into the mix, and Annabeth could not keep track of things through her watering eyes.

There were a few tense moments as the three were locked in combat before Sabine managed to get a lucky shot off and caught Sacerdos in the head this time. He bellowed in pain and the force of his shout sent his two opponents flying where their heads collided harshly with a stone wall and they dropped to the floor. Neither one was moving.

Sacerdos shuddered for a moment in pain before rising to his full height, shrugging and moving his shoulders to get back into his fighting style and turning to Annabeth. Her sword was still in her hand but her back hurt so much that she could barely move. With great effort, Annabeth began to lift her sword as Sacerdos raised his own with the intent of ending her life once and for all. Annabeth could hear her own heart beating in her chest as the blow came down-

But then something else happened. Both Sacerdos and his sword were blasted to the side as the most vibrant gold flames crashed into him, his form vanishing beneath their light. They were so bright that Annabeth dropped her sword and used the hand to shield her eyes as she watched the black, charred for of a monster that had almost ruined her life be thrown across the floor, up to the edge of the hole, and fall straight down it and into the nothingness that lay far, far below. The stream of flames continued for a moment before halting and a blast of sparks and dust flew up from the whole that Sacerdos had fallen down, all that remained of him now, before falling back down into the darkness once again to be completely obliterated.

Annabeth briefly noted Astrid's outstretched hand dropping to the floor before she laid her head down against the floor and tried to catch her breath. For a minute, there was silence in the room other than Annabeth's heavy breathing and the sounds of the hole closing back up at the death of its maker. There was a heaviness in her limbs that made Annabeth cringe and, once her breath was back, she shifted about slightly and felt a satisfying crack from her back as it mended itself. Groaning, Annabeth forced herself into a sitting position and leaned back against the crumbling remains of the shelf she had smashed into. There was a strange emptiness to the room that made itself known now its occupants were dead. All except three.

"Oww…" Sabine groaned as she pushed herself onto her knees. "My _head_ …"

"Oh you've got problems." Astrid grumbled as she lifted her head from the floor, ichor dripping down from above her hairline.

"Blimey," Annabeth scooted over to the two. "Can you still see?"

"Yeah," Astrid groaned in pain and clutched her temples. "But it hurts like hell. _Oww_ …"

There were footsteps coming up the corridor that led into the room now. The portcullis lifted up and a tall, beefy boy came rushing in with his bow at the ready; he paused when he saw Annabeth and Annabeth went deadly still at the sight of him.

" _Annabeth?_ " Frank Zhang gaped like a fish; he probably knew how to do that from turning into one so often. "You're… you're here! How… what-?"

"Not now Frank," Annabeth struggled to her feet. "Help me with Astrid."

"Astrid?" Frank's eyes caught onto the two girls still slumped on the floor. "Who are they? Is that… is that _ichor?_ "

" _Yes_ now _help me!_ "

Frank jumped slightly at the outburst before hesitantly lowering his bow. "O-okay… how did this happen?"

"She got thrown into a wall," Annabeth grunted as both she and Frank lifted Astrid to a standing position and supported her as she tried to walk. "Forgot to dodge a blow."

"You'll dodge my blow in a minute," Astrid mumbled, half-conscious. "You got thrown into a wall first."

"It was a shelf," Annabeth reminded her. "Do you feel any better?"

" _No_ , I hit the wall less than five minutes ago so I am definitely _not okay_."

"Can't you use your magic to heal yourself?" asked Frank. "Goddesses can do that, right?"

"Under normal circumstances? Yes. When we've hit our heads and can barely make out how many Annabeth's there are? No. We're concussed, demi-god, give us a break." said Sabine.

"Be nice," Annabeth chided. "He's my friend."

"A little more focused on the half-dead girl please." Astrid winced.

They managed to shuffle Astrid down the tunnel bit-by-bit and she slowly regained the use of her legs as they went. Sabine was stumbling along behind them but her stride got steadier as the walk continued and when one of them complained that they needed a break because their vision was filling with pale dots they all sat down and waited a moment for them to get better. It took a long time, long enough for Annabeth's adrenaline to wear off so that she could feel how awkward it was to have Frank keep glancing at her, but they made it back outside. The monster camp was now a burning husk and there were a dozen demi-gods wandering around, picking up loot and conversing with each other. When they saw Annabeth coming, they froze.

"Uh…" Annabeth noted that she had just stumbled into almost every one of her closest friends at camp and then some. "This… isn't what it looks like."

"It looks like you're not dead." said Jason with a blank expression.

Annabeth faltered for a moment. "Yeah… it's exactly what it looks like."

Silence for another moment and then cheering filled the air. Annabeth was rugby tackled to the floor by a grinning Piper who squeezed her so tightly she thought her lungs were going to burst. Jason grinned and clapped her on the shoulder, Hazel burst into tears, Lou Ellen dropped the monster-turned-rabbit she was holding and fell into the waiting arms of Katie Gardner, who didn't seem able to keep the look of shock off her face. Annabeth was completely winded by the end of it.

"You're alive!"

"You escaped the fire!"

"Where have you _been_?"

"What were you doing?"

"Guys! _Guys!_ Can you let up, please, my friend is injured!" Annabeth cried as several people tried to swat her for making them worry.

"Friend?" Jason asked before looking up and noticing both Astrid and Sabine standing near Frank. "Dude, who are they?"

"Dunno, they were all in this big chamber inside the mountain," Frank explained, gently setting Astrid down on the ground. "Annabeth said they hit a wall."

"A wall?" Katie frowned. "Were they in a fight?"

"Fight or no fight," Connor Stoll took a cautious step backwards. "Unless I'm going colour-blind then that is _ichor_ dripping down her face."

The group of half-bloods shifted backwards in surprise.

"Annabeth… you were fighting a god?" Piper asked.

"No… well, _yes_ I was fighting a god but it wasn't Astrid," Annabeth got to her feet. "Astrid got rid of him for me. Sent him right down a hole and into Chaos."

"Chaos? There aren't any ways to get from the upper world into _Chaos,_ Annabeth." said Katie.

"There is when a god opens them."

"Oww," Astrid whimpered. "Do you hear thudding?"

"Thudding?" asked Sabine. "What have you lost your mind as well as your blood now?"

"I hear thudding, okay!"

"I'm back!" A voice called into the group. Annabeth went still. "What are you all gathered up for? Did you find the creature or…"

The voice of Percy Jackson trailed off as people moved out of the way to let him see. Annabeth stared into his eyes and was reminded eerily of the moment she had plunged a rod into his chest and let him fall into the lava beneath them.

"Holy Styx," He cursed. "… Annabeth?!"

Annabeth stared at him, unsure of what to do.

"You're alive!"

"So are you," Annabeth eyed him warily. "I thought I killed you?"

Percy's rapidly spreading grin faltered. "What?"

"I killed you, remember? Or at least, someone who looked _exactly like you_."

Now it was Percy's turn to stare at her.

"The imposter." Hazel muttered.

"What?"

"That was an imposter you killed," Hazel explained. "I never realised it was you… Chiron said they were searching for a great hero's soul but I never thought…"

"Imposter?" asked Annabeth. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah that's what we said," Travis Stoll spoke up. "But we aren't getting any answers and we were tracking this cloaked guy and heard he'd passed through here so-"

"We already killed him," said Sabine. "Nothing left for you to do."

"You killed him?" Percy asked incredulously. "But we were going to ask him questions! Annabeth, this guy was part of a group responsible for _blowing up your cabin_ and-"

"I already know that." Annabeth sighed.

"And she knows _why_ they did it, too," Sabine added. "I wonder if mum knew people would want to get the blood of Olympus?"

"I doubt it."

"Mum?" Piper asked. "Wait… you have the same mother? You survived the explosion as well?"

"No, I'm a goddess," Sabine said. "First immortal child of Athena and all that."

"And yet still younger than me." Annabeth added.

"Stop advertising that!"

Thunder boomed overhead and Annabeth flinched at the sound. It was louder than anything she'd heard before and came from a spot directly above them which was unnatural for gods to do when they were angry.

"Sabine, did you have to do that?"

"That… wasn't me," Sabine looked paler than usual and slightly afraid. "That was a summons."

"A summons? To what?" asked Jason.

"Olympus," said Astrid glumly. "Hold my hand, Sabine. Our parents have found us."


	15. The Reunion

Chapter 14- The Reunion

Annabeth wondered if she would ever get used to teleporting. After the summoning to Olympus had made itself clear a _third_ time, Astrid and Sabine had stopped holding hands like the world was ending and taken both themselves _and_ Annabeth to the outside of the elevator doors leading up to heaven. Apparently, they either did not want to travel straight up there and attract a massive audience or they were attempting to steal their nerves and go through what they were going to say to their parents before the big meeting. Neither girl had spoken to their parents in sixteen years and while Astrid _had_ spent more time with her mother it seemed to have ended on bad terms and she didn't seem happy about seeing her again.

"You had to open your mouth Sabine," Astrid complained as they got in the elevator and began to ascend. "You _had_ to mention you were the only immortal child of Athena. Do you have any idea how good our hearing is when someone says our name?"

"Yes," Sabine said sadly. "I was just trying to explain who I was. In any case, if mum was the only one watching then why did _you_ get summoned as well?"

"Probably saw that you were both gods and decided to hit two birds with one stone," said Annabeth. "The real question is, why did you bring _me_ with you?"

"That's what they said to do."

"What?"

"I know, weird isn't it? But the voice in my head said to bring you up hear _so_ …"

"Thanks Sabine," Annabeth muttered. "The voice in your head has gotten us into trouble once again. Perfect."

"I'm sorry we left your friends," said Astrid. "There wasn't any time to explain. _Not_ that I was going to tell them my life story."

"I wasn't expecting you to. It just would have been nice if I could say _goodbye_ after finally revealing that I'm actually alive instead of dead."

"Well we don't always get what we want, do we? If we did, I wouldn't be meeting with _my_ mother, Sabine wouldn't be seeing _your_ mother and you would not have had to leave your comfortable life behind because some crazy thugs in curtains have developed a vampire fetish. Tell me this isn't our floor."

"It's our floor."

 _Ding!_

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a familiar sight to Annabeth. Olympus was buzzing with activity, as usual, but there was much less noise than before. As they stepped out of the lift and began walking up the path to the palace of the gods, Annabeth noticed that a lot of people were staring at them. Actually, most of them were staring at _Astrid_. As if that wasn't strange enough, people were whispering things to one another without taking their eyes off her and took almost no notice of Annabeth when they realised that she had caught them doing it. A sickening feeling washed over her as Annabeth wondered if Astrid was going to get into trouble for directly interfering with a fight between a demi-god and another immortal. After all, gods openly defending their children from monsters wasn't exactly _allowed_ so why should a goddess who had no claim on a 'dead' demi-god be allowed to save her from another god? This made Annabeth worry and she kept glancing about to make sure there were no lightning bolts about to blast her friend to pieces.

When they came to the gates of the palace, which opened automatically, Sabine started to shift about nervously.

"Sabine," Annabeth tried to comfort her. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's not a crime to love and defend your family."

"I know that," Sabine mumbled. "But… we won't get to spend Christmas together."

Annabeth blinked. "Oh," She hadn't thought about that. "Well… we can still send each other those gifts, right?"

"They'll think I'm interfering."

"I don't care what _they think_. It's Christmas we should be allowed to do it."

"I'm not sure gods up here celebrate Christmas," Astrid mused. "I mean, it is a Christian holiday so they probably won't take kindly to it. The Christians did burn their temples, after all."

"Astrid, I don't think very many mortals who celebrate Christmas are even Christian nowadays."

"Forget that," said Sabine. "How am I gonna kick your butt at Mario Kart now?"

Annabeth bristled. " _You_ thought you were going to beat _me?_ "

"Let's not do this now," Astrid sighed. "The only person getting their butt kicked is me."

They walked along the stone path and up a set of marble steps. The statues of Zeus and Hera seemed rather menacing as they went through the massive doorway but Annabeth just glared at the queen of the gods for all their past grievances. If she did anything to Astrid, Annabeth was going to unleash the gates of hell on her. And by that, she meant giving Sabine unrestricted access to the paint stash and setting her loose on the streets of Olympus. Inside the throne room, there were several people in their seats whilst the rest remained empty. There was Zeus, of course, looking down at them with his stormy eyes and to his right sat Hera, looking extremely curious instead of angry. The other thrones were filled by Athena, ready to chew out her daughters, Aphrodite (surprisingly), Hephaestus (even more surprisingly) and Ares who looked furious. What did he have to be angry about?

They stopped in the room and there was silence for a moment.

"Well?" asked Zeus.

They stared at him in confusion. He narrowed his eyes.

"Aren't you going to bow to your king?"

"Oh," said Sabine. "Well we just got thrown into a wall and Astrid's concussed so…"

" _Sabine._ " Their mother warned, her eyes flashed dangerously.

"What? I'm actually telling the truth for once."

"Shut it kid," Ares growled. "Let's hear what the other one has to say."

"Ares," Aphrodite sounded far more cautious than Annabeth could ever remember her being. "Perhaps now isn't the time. She's still bleeding."

"Well maybe she shouldn't have been weak enough to get beaten up and-"

" _Ares_ control yourself," Zeus grumbled. "You can sort out your relationship in private whilst we deal with more serious matters. Now," He looked directly at Annabeth. "What do you know about these hooded creatures?"

"I know they tried to kill me," said Annabeth. "And they blew up the cabin at camp."

"We already know this," said Athena. "What do you know about their group as a whole? What are their aims and weapons?"

"Uh," Annabeth thought for a moment. "They want to raise their master by using the blood that was used to raise Gaia so he's probably a primordial. They have these stones called the Motus Set that respond to individual emotions and give power to the ones who feel them the strongest."

"And how do you know this, exactly?" asked Hera, looking snobby.

Annabeth paused. "I… _we_ have a contact who knows about them."

"One of their followers?"

"No. She's a pirate."

"What is her name?" Athena questioned.

"I can't tell you that." Annabeth replied.

"And why not?" demanded Ares.

"Because I don't want them to find out who she is and start going after her."

"Ridiculous," He muttered. "As if we would let slip her name to some of _their_ monsters."

"I'm not telling you her name," Annabeth said firmly. "That's final."

Silence once more.

"Fine, then we'll get it out of one of these runts," Ares glowered down at the two young goddesses. "What's the name of this woman?"

"I am unable to answer that," said Astrid. "Could you try a different question?"

"Yeah, one where we can give an honest answer. We hate lying, you see." Sabine added.

"You're lying right now." Annabeth accused.

"Desperate times, big sister."

"Bah! Enough of this," Ares glared. "Do you two have a death wish?"

"No," said Astrid. "We just don't like you."

"Well I suppose she would have reason to do so." Hera admitted to Zeus.

Annabeth blinked. "Wait, what reason? You've never mentioned an argument with him before."

"It wasn't _my_ argument," said Astrid. "And he broke apart my parents' marriage three thousand years before I got here, so…"

"I don't follow."

Sabine, on the other hand, did.

"Ha! I _so_ knew you weren't who you said you were."

"Yes, thank you Sabine. That was obvious."

"And you're actually a daughter of Hephaestus and Aphrodite?"

"What?" Annabeth asked, turning to stare at Astrid. "Really?"

"I think so. My mother hasn't actually _told me_ yet, though," Astrid glared up at her mother. "Well?"

"Astrid darling," Aphrodite glanced about nervously. "I'm not sure this is the place to-"

"It's exactly the place!" Ares exclaimed. "Is she or isn't she a child you had with the old cripple? Because either he's lying or he doesn't know!"

The goddess of love shifted about on her throne, reluctant to respond, and Annabeth realised how tense it must have been for Astrid as a baby. If her father was only finding out about her _now_ then it would have been just Astrid and her mother for days on end and, if her mother took out her annoyance with Hephaestus on her, it was easy to see why Astrid had run away from home at such an early age. It was also easy to see why Astrid was reluctant to return as her mother did not seem to have overcome her negative feelings towards Hephaestus and even now, with the proof of what had happened right in front of the king of the gods himself, she found it difficult to admit what she had done.

"Alright fine," Aphrodite sighed. "She is a child I had with Hephaestus. My only legitimate heir."

"I knew it!" Ares roared. "I _knew_ -"

As the god of war went off on his little tirade, Annabeth turned to look at Astrid who was now staring at the floor with a mixture of expressions on her face. There was emptiness, realisation, confusion and thoughtfulness, to name a few. Sabine nudged her with her elbow and gave a reassuring smile that Annabeth did her best to replicate. Coming from parents with a ruined marriage was bad enough but now Astrid had a very angry god of war going off about her very existence as if it were a crime against nature. Annabeth felt anger bubble up inside of her.

"Ares! I've had enough of this. You are to leave immediately." Zeus ordered.

Ares faltered in his rant. "What?! But father-"

"The last time I checked, _you_ were not Aphrodite's husband and have no reason to condemn the existence of this child. Go back to your toy soldiers and polish your armour."

There was a moment of silence before the six metre tall form of Ares burst into flames and disappeared leaving the smell of smoke as he went. The tense atmosphere instantly dissolved.

Zeus sighed. "Right, now that that's over with," He peered down at them once more. "It is my understanding that the two of you ran away from home at incredibly young ages."

"Yeah at three weeks." said Astrid.

"Two weeks." said Sabine.

"Like I said, very young. And while you do remain young and naïve, I cannot ignore your recent bought of illegal activities." Zeus announced.

"Illegal?" asked Sabine. "We didn't steal anyone's weapons or trespass on sacred land."

"No, but you _did_ interfere in the destiny of a demi-god," His voice became sterner. "The ancient laws prohibit this and such an act would usually be punished in the most severe way I can think of. However, due to the fact that you have not been properly educated in the ways of the gods and were forced from your homes by emotional disputes, I have decided to be lenient with your punishment."

"And the punishment is…?"

"You are to return to your mothers and continue living with them until you mature."

Astrid and Sabine looked at each other.

"That's it?" asked Astrid.

"That's it."

"Uh…" Sabine and Astrid made eye contact once more. "Okay. So we just have to live with them and try not to go insane while we're doing it?"

"I think insane is a bit strong." Aphrodite protested.

"Yes, that is what you will be doing," Zeus confirmed. "Now, I have a meeting with the northern winds to cement their allegiances and I need to prepare. Be gone from my presence."

* * *

They got five metres from the palace gates before Sabine jumped in the air and clicked her heels together.

"Dude! We got off almost scott free!"

"I don't think so Sabine," said Astrid. "We have to make up with our parents and we're going to be watched every minute of every day. I wouldn't call that being 'free'."

"Yeah but you're not an all-round mischief maker," Sabine smirked. "We're programmed to make trouble under situations like these."

"And mothers are programmed to know exactly when you're up to something." A voice behind them said and they spun around to see the face of Athena stood just in front of the gates.

"Yeah right, like you knew that I was making a run for it sixteen years ago," Sabine frowned. "Don't you ever think that you act a bit arrogant sometimes?"

"I could ask you the same question," Her gaze turned to Annabeth. "You faked your death."

"Yeah," said Annabeth. "Not sure how I managed it when I spent five months living with _this_ blabber mouth, though."

"I'm not a blabber mouth," Sabine protested. "I'm just expressive, is all!"

"Whatever."

"Sabine go and play," Athena instructed. "I need to talk to your sister."

"But-"

" _Now_."

Sabine did not look happy about being ordered about by the mother she had not seen for sixteen years. She looked at her sister for confirmation and, after finding it, flounced off after Astrid leaving Annabeth alone with their mother and the two began walking down the steps together.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Annabeth. "What _did_ happen between you and Sabine that made her run away?"

"Many things," Her mother admitted. "I wasn't expecting my first and only immortal child to be so…"

"Expressive?" Annabeth teased.

Athena smiled wryly. "Yes, expressive. I was not prepared to deal with a difficult child when the rest of my own have always been intelligent and willing to listen to me."

"Sabine's intelligent. And she does listen; she might not always _show_ it but she does."

"To you perhaps," Her mother looked at her. "She really likes you. There hasn't been a god willing to spend Christmas with their demi-god sibling in history."

"I thought that was because the ancient laws said no interfering."

"Does that stop fully grown gods from aiding their children in battle?"

Annabeth frowned. "No, it doesn't. But nobody does it where anyone can see it happen. Not unless your name is Astrid and you just smashed your head against a wall. Did that hole really go all the way down to Chaos?"

"It did," said Athena. "If any of you had slipped and fallen down you would be dead. No immortal can survive down there."

"So Sacerdos really is gone."

"Indeed, but I wanted to speak with you about that," They stopped walking. "What did you discover in that mountain?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious. Something in particular seemed to distress your sister and I want to know what it was."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "She was upset? I didn't see that."

"Gods can detect the emotions of their own; that was how we knew you had entered the mountain in the first place. Think back to what you learned. Did anything seem threatening or frightening?"

"No," said Annabeth. "He just said stuff I already knew."

"What didn't Sabine know?"

"That I was being chased for my blood. And that he was part of the group that blew up your cabin and killed everyone."

Athena hummed in thought, eyes turning darker and more mysterious than usual. "How did you escape that explosion?" She asked. "I sensed that all of my children were dead. Including you."

"I couldn't sleep," Annabeth explained. "So I was awake when the bomb went off. It was in the corner on the other side of the room and didn't fire any shrapnel anywhere. I got blown out the window and knocked out. When I woke up, I saw that the fire and smoke had killed them."

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Because…" Annabeth paused. "Because… I had been told over the past three days by people I'd never met that people were going to start hunting me."

"People?" Athena frowned. "What people?"

"All kinds of people," said Annabeth. "There were nymphs and satyrs and sea creatures and everything. I even had a wind spirit start bothering me in the middle of class and keep telling me to run away and go into hiding."

"And these started three days before the explosion?"

"Yes."

"Why did you not tell me?"

"I thought it was nonsense," Annabeth's gaze dropped to the floor. "I thought it was just Gaia's supporters trying to mess with me saying that my blood was special now because it had been used to raise her. Then why I was up thinking about it, and wondering whether I should mention it to Chiron in the morning, then the bomb went off and everyone was dead. And then when I took the advice and really _did_ run away, I was too guilty to come back because if I'd mentioned it sooner, they wouldn't be dead."

"I doubt that. I sensed no bomb until after it had gone off and was unable to see these people you speak of. There would have been very little difference to the fate of my children other than you would have remained at Camp Half-Blood. Speaking of which, it's probably best that you weren't there in the past few months."

"Why?" Annabeth frowned. "What happened?"

Athena gave her an indiscernible look. "It matters not… I believe you promised to play Mario Kart with Sabine?"

"Yes," Annabeth said, feeling incredibly suspicious. "But I got her a new one for Christmas and it's only the 19th so-"

"You can stay until then," said Athena. "I will have accommodations made for you."

Annabeth paused. "Um… thanks, but…. _Why_ exactly?"

"Because I'm never going to make any progress with Sabine unless you're here," Athena replied. "And if my memory serves correctly, she always paints on my things when she's unhappy."

"That's easy to fix. Just buy some paint thinner."

Her mother observed her quietly which didn't make Annabeth as nervous as it would have before.

"You've changed," Athena noted. "You are very different to the girl I knew before."

Annabeth blinked in surprise. True, she was not the sophisticated and reserved girl that she had been before and used slang language unabashedly in front of her mother, the goddess of wisdom, despite having faked her own death but she was still Annabeth. She could still come up with a battle plan like a pro even if her interest in architecture had dwindled in the past months and her dreams and ADHD that made her a demi-god had completely faded.

"I'm still Annabeth," She said. "I'm still me."

Athena's eyes never left hers.

"We shall see."


	16. Not so Together Again

Chapter 15- Not so Together Again

Christmas flew by faster than ever before that year and the frosty air of January had coated the US in a haze of frost and black ice just two days after the New Year. The rare patches of snow had melted but left large patches of trampled slush about which actually made it harder for those who were walking to get about without slipping or stubbing their foot on a solid piece of ice and hopping around in pain. As it happened, January was one of the coldest months of the year in San Francisco and Annabeth deeply regretted not putting on ever jumper she owned to keep out the chilly bite. There was a particularly thick and fleecy jacket resting at the bottom of her suitcase and, had she not been so preoccupied with the last session of WarioWare, Annabeth was certain that she would have put it on and not been shivering as badly as she was right now.

She adamantly avoided all icy roads and pavements as she made her way towards the Caldecott Tunnel and the entrance of Camp Jupiter. Would it be so cold inside the Pomerian line? Given that the Roman camp did not have the magical protections that Camp Half-Blood had possessed, Annabeth knew that it probably would be; at least they would have fires and warm barracks to stand beside if duty called for them to be outside. They had better not have had any war games scheduled for today.

Annabeth passed through the service tunnel just beneath the Caldecott main tunnel and instantly saw three Romans guarding the entrance on the other side of the stretch. Their Imperial Gold armour gave them away instantly and the fact that it clashed brilliantly with their purple clothes in the white weather almost made Annabeth laugh at how ridiculous they looked. Then she realised that she was actually judging people on their fashion and snapped out of it; that was a _dangerous_ road to be going down.

The Romans stopped her before she got within three metres of them and levelled their weapons.

"Name." The middle one demanded in a gruff voice.

"Annabeth Chase."

"Hmm," He observed her cautiously. "May I see your identification papers?"

"I'm Greek. We don't have identification papers."

"Ah, yes, a _Graeca_. If any other demi-god attempted to get through our defences we would simply shoot them down, but of course, if a _Greek_ wishes to enter our camp without identification then we must comply!" He gave her a nasty look that made it plain that some Romans had still not forgotten the rivalry and bloodshed that had once existed between them and the Greek demi-gods.

Annabeth shifted into a more defensive stance and opened her mouth to lay some much needed swear words on the arrogant solider- she noted a badge saying he was from the First Cohort- when a shadow swooped over them from on high. A Pegasus and its rider.

"Legionnaire," A familiar voice called down. "Let this half-blood pass."

"Praetor Reyna," The legionnaire protested. "She has no identification papers and there is no-one to vouch for her-"

" _I_ am vouching for her," Reyna said in her 'I-am-the-boss-listen-to-me' voice. "And if you had sent for others from the Forum then they would tell you that this girl is who she claims to be. Let her pass."

The three romans lowered their weapons and stood to the side so that Annabeth had just enough room to walk through without hitting them with her suitcase. This was both good and bad; Annabeth was able to get past and into Camp Jupiter but she also couldn't stick it to the guy who had been rude to Greeks. Reyna and Guido descended from where they had been hovering in the sky and landed just a few feet from where Annabeth had stopped beside the Little Tiber. Her purple praetors cloak made her look as important as ever but Annabeth found herself unintimidated by such things anymore. Living with gods made you realise that there was nothing in the world to _really_ be afraid of. You could be cautious, yes, but not afraid. Afraid meant you wouldn't fight back to the best of your ability and fears made your mind go foggy and murky.

Reyna swung off her Pegasus and walked up to Annabeth with a small smile on her face.

"You're alive," She noted. "I wasn't sure the others were telling the truth until now. Especially when you didn't return right away."

"Well I had a promise to keep," said Annabeth. "You know, Christmas with the family and all that."

"You were not in San Francisco until today. Our spies confirmed your approach ten minutes ago."

"I didn't spend Christmas with my _mortal_ family," Annabeth amended. "I was with Sabine. She thought she could beat me at Mario Kart."

Reyna stared at her. "You spent Christmas playing games with a godly relative?"

"My younger sister, yes."

Reyna stared some more. "You are very different to how you were before."

Annabeth tried not to frown. That sounded exactly like what her mother, Athena, had said. "I'm still Annabeth. I don't get why people think that I'm so different."

"You look it," said Reyna. "And you sound it, too. Those five months in hiding have changed you more than you realise."

Annabeth sighed. "Yeah, whatever. It's cold, I'm tired, I just beat someone at Mario Kart 57 times in a row and I'd like a proper reunion with my friends instead of all this formal stuff. Do we still need to drop our weapons off with Terminus?"

"Yes," Reyna was smirking now. "We'll go together and… 57 times?"

"We spent a week playing it."

The path up to the centre of Camp Jupiter was littered with bonfires and satyrs- _fawns_ \- begging for money. Annabeth tried not to look as disturbed as she felt about people, no matter their species, having to beg for money off of demi-gods that they had fought and died to protect and _still_ were not being actively used to aid in the life of Camp Jupiter. She hoped that the satyrs who had come from Camp Half-Blood were not being forced into the same way of life. In the fields, the remains of the last war games were being torn down and they looked recent enough to make Annabeth sigh with relief that she would not be forced to participate in such games before she was ready. Seriously, it was freezing out there.

Annabeth and Reyna deposited their weapons in a tray hovering beside Terminus as was the law if you wanted to cross the Pomerian line.

"Thank you, Praetor," Terminus said as Reyna laid down a dagger and Imperial Gold sword. "Yes, yes, no weapons allowed inside, as you know. Now, Greek, place your sword on the… is that _blue_?"

The gleaming sapphire blade of Annabeth's sword drew the attention of everyone who was attempting to cross the border.

"Uh, yeah," said Annabeth. "A friend made it for me."

"What metal is it?" asked Reyna.

"It's a mixture," Annabeth replied, remembering what Astrid had told her. "Celestial bronze and stygian iron. It came out blue due to the way it was tempered."

"They merged the two metals?"

"And a bunch of other stuff."

"Fascinating," Reyna mused as Terminus made the tray vanish and the two crossed the Pomerian line. "Who is this friend? Are they a half-blood?"

"No, she's a goddess," Annabeth explained. "Her name's Astrid."

"You got a goddess to forge a sword for you?"

"She's my friend, like I said."

"And you claim you haven't changed," Reyna mused. "The old Annabeth wouldn't have been able to sustain a relationship with _two_ goddesses."

"There's a bit more than that." Annabeth muttered so quietly that Reyna could not hear her.

The streets of New Rome were buzzing with more activity than Annabeth had ever seen before. The combined presence of both the Greeks and Romans meant that the city appeared to be full and there were people racing around carrying scraps of paper, books and armour to all sorts of places. There were no weapons, obviously, but Annabeth did recognise a lot of the people she knew and attempted feebly to hide behind Reyna's cloak.

"What are you doing?" The praetor asked curiously.

"Hiding."

"Why?"

"Because I ran away and got my siblings killed," Annabeth mumbled. "And to top it all off, I was gone when Camp Half-Blood was attacked and hundreds of people died. I abandoned all of my friends and teachers."

"To save the world," said Reyna. "If you had stayed those creatures would have gotten your blood and then what would happen?"

"End of the world," Annabeth replied, dodging out of view from another Greek camper. "Fires in the sky, rocks raining down from the heavens, earthquakes and mountains exploding. Take your pick because I don't know."

"So basically the exact same thing that happened with Gaia only solely down to you."

"Yes. Who is _that_?"

"Legacy of Mars."

"What's going on with his hair?"

"He tried to prank some daughters of Aphrodite."

"Moron."

They made their way through the winding crowds at a slow rate. Partly because there were so many people to wade through and partly because Annabeth insisted on hiding herself in Reyna's cloak. She _really_ didn't want to be in Camp Jupiter right now and the thought of staying in the magical pocket with Astrid and Sabine seemed like a happy dream she couldn't get out of her head. The thing that Annabeth was avoiding the most was another meeting with Percy. She'd spent months believing that she killed him, only to find out that it was an _imposter,_ and everyone seemed to think that things would go right back to normal between the two of them because they were 'destined to be together'. News flash, you don't spend _months_ believing you have committed man-slaughter on your _boyfriend_ and come away without mental scaring on your mind. What did they think she was? Invincible?

There was a building on the left side of the street that they started heading towards. A few dozen troops in Greek armour were sat outside of it on the stairs and surrounding lawn which meant Annabeth would not be getting to the front door unseen. She decided to drop the purple cloak so that Reyna could actually _walk_ properly and tried to make herself look as dignified as possible. The daughter of Bellona gave her an amused look and Annabeth contemplated stamping on her toes. It was probably better for everyone if she didn't.

The Greeks saw them approaching moments later and stared openly at Annabeth. Some looked shocked, others grinned. But some, as Annabeth predicted, gave her scathing looks and either turned away or continued to glare at her. They were mainly children of Ares but she spotted some from the Apollo, Hermes and even Demeter cabin who looked like they would rather she had stayed dead. So much for Reyna's acceptance theory. Clearly the Romans were nothing like the Greeks when it came to not-so-fallen comrades.

They opened the door and went inside, with several whispering conversations going on behind them, and Annabeth was assaulted by the smell of roasted meals, Christmas pudding, fries, cheez-its and other healthy and filling meals that she had not eaten for a very long time. It was always ready meals, McDonalds or some kind of sugary based substance that had kept her going for days on end.

There was a table in the middle of the room were many demi-gods, head counsellors to be specific, sat and they all looked up when she came in. Annabeth had always hated being the centre of attention when complicated matters arose.

"Oh look who it is," Clarisse La Rue noted disdainfully. "We were wondering when you were going to show up."

"Clarisse," said Pollux. "Shut it. This is serious."

"It's serious alright," Clarisse agreed. "We've got a deserter and we're not killing her. What are we, the English?"

"I'm not a deserter," Annabeth protested. "And I saved your life by leaving. Unless, of course, you thought you could take on a primordial god all by yourself and not let the world get destroyed."

Clarisse glared at her. "You think that you can come back here and act like you're the queen of the castle, Wise Girl? Think again."

Annabeth glared back. "I don't think I'm the 'queen of the castle'. I think you're looking for people to blame because you lost your home. And I'll bet you had a crack at Percy, too."

People round the table started to smile and Annabeth knew that she had hit the nail right on the head. So, Clarisse had been giving people a hard time because Camp Half-Blood was destroyed…

"Moving away from that," Another familiar voice interrupted. Chiron sat in his wheelchair form at the head of the table with an expression that made Annabeth nervous. He didn't look angry or displeased, but he didn't look happy to see her either. Were things really that bad between them? "We are glad to have the seven greatest demi-gods of the age together again."

"Yeah, our defences will be great now that you're all reunited," said Travis. "And we have some battle plans that need drawing up."

Annabeth shifted about slightly, feeling uncomfortable with the subject. "Uh… right," She agreed half-heartedly. "Yeah I can… help with the planning and stuff."

No-one seemed convinced by this.

"Is there something wrong?" Katie Gardener asked.

"No, absolutely not," Annabeth assured. "It's just… stuff happens when you run away, I guess."

"Ran away and left us all to die, you mean." Clarisse spat.

"Clarisse, if you cannot control yourself you will be removed from this meeting," Chiron threatened. The daughter of Ares crossed her arms defiantly and leant back in her chair; her hateful eyes never left Annabeth's face. "Thank you. Now, we need blueprints on the rebuilding of Camp Half-Blood once we have reclaimed it from the monsters and a battle plan of how to do so. Annabeth you will be working with the rest of the seven and select members of our forces to put these into place."

"Um," Annabeth was not sure if the centaur was serious. "Okay, but-"

"Excellent, you may go. We have to find room and provisions for the members of those cabins that still have more than five remaining; we cannot put them all in the barracks of the Roman cohorts. Reyna, if you would-"

It was a clear dismissal and suddenly all attention on Annabeth had vanished from the conversation as Reyna stepped forward and announced her plans for relocation. Annabeth locked her eyes on the floor and backed out of the room swiftly. That was far from what she had been expecting; the meeting with her friends at the base of the mountain had made her expect some kind of party of large group of people waiting to clap her on the back and welcome her home- but it seemed that no-one was interested in Annabeth Chase anymore.

She ignored the demi-gods still sat outside the front door and speed walked down the street and back towards the Pomerian line. Annabeth picked up her sword and sheathed it at her side before taking off towards the space opposite the Field of Mars. She was not in the mood for this; for _any_ of this. And to think that her mentor, the person she had once thought of as a second father, was now shunning her for her leaving despite knowing full well the reasons that she had done so. It didn't make any sense. Had Annabeth really changed as much as people seemed to think she had? She pulled out her phone and stared at the blank screen as she thought the urge to call one of her friends. Not her demi-god friends, of course; they all hated her now. Annabeth wanted to call some of her godly one. She had the numbers of Sabine, Astrid, Newt and various other members of the Street Rat Pack who could be called in to deal with monster attacks.

Phoebe had given Annabeth her number in case of the need for 'emotional support' which made the daughter of Athena suspect that Phoebe may have inherited some prophetic abilities from her paternal great-grandmother. Then there was the number of the leader of the pack, Kelly, who had only very recently given it to Annabeth as a sign that she had accepted her into the group. How ironic it was, to finally be accepted into a place that seemed impossible to ever call home only to have it ripped away moments later by some stupid ancient laws. Perhaps there was another reason Athena had wanted Annabeth and Sabine to stay together a little longer; did she know this would happen?

Annabeth started to walk towards the banks of the Little Tiber, fully intent on wading across and finding solitude on the tops of the Oakland Hills, when she heard people running up behind her. Silently hoping that it was not some disgruntled campers ready to pounce, Annabeth turned to find the other six members of the Seven approaching. Leo was there this time, which made Annabeth slightly happier to know that he had not gone down in a blaze of glory like they had originally thought, and none of them seemed unhappy at Annabeth's return. Nether the less, Annabeth felt none of the acceptance and peace she would have felt in the past at the sight of them. She stuffed her phone into her back pocket.

"Annabeth, you encyclopaedia-extraordinaire," Leo cried as he swung both arms around her without permission. "You're not dead!"

"No," Annabeth chuckled awkwardly. "Not dead. Never was."

"Can't say the same for me," He pulled back and skipped away a little. "That Physicians Cure really does the trick, you know."

"Huh? How did you drink it?" Annabeth asked curiously. "If you were dead then surely you wouldn't have been able to."

"Ah, that's what my fire-breathing companion is for," said Leo. "By which I mean Festus, not Calypso. She'd kill me if I said that."

Annabeth blinked. "You're travelling with Calypso?"

"You don't catch on as fast as you used to," Leo mused. "She's my girlfriend. You know, 'oath to keep with a final breath' and all that."

"Oh," Annabeth wasn't sure what to make of his evaluation of her. "Well… uh….what line in the prophecy was that again?"

"The last," His smile dropped. "Is there something wrong with you?"

"No."

"Yes there is," said Piper as she and the other four demi-gods arrived at walking pace. "The question is _what_."

"Yeah, and _why_ ," Jason added. "You seemed fine when we found you at the mountain."

"It's nothing," Annabeth insisted. "Just… first time back, and all…"

"Then let's go to the Mess Hall and you can relax," Hazel suggested. "And you can tell us all about the adventures you've been on."

"There isn't much to tell," said Annabeth evasively. "I just ran around the country for five months with two goddesses."

"So there's a lot to tell," Percy said. "Like how you got into a fight with that imposter and so on."

"Right…" Annabeth was looking anywhere but at the son of Poseidon. "Yeah, that wasn't very nice."

"Then let's go," Piper grabbed Annabeth's hand gently and started tugging. "You still like sparkling water, right?"

"No," Annabeth replied. "I like Fanta though."

"Fanta?" Frank stared at her. "What's Fanta?"

"It's a soft drink," Jason explained. "But it's supposed to be really sugary. Kind of like Coke."

"So let me get this straight," Leo held up his hands in a 'stop everything' gesture. "You, Annabeth Chase, who is so mature and intelligent and talented at drawing up battle plans and keeping us hooligans in line… drink _Fanta_?"

"It's a nice drink," Annabeth protested. "And it was all we had when we went to the Amazon."

"You went to the Amazon?" Frank asked in amazement.

"Uh…" Annabeth faltered. "Just the rainforest and some gas stations…"

"What were you doing _there_?" asked Hazel.

"Um," Annabeth tried to come up with a convincing lie to hide the fact that she had been there with gods other than the ones she had already spoken of. "We voted on going to Argentina to have a few days rest but Sabine misheard and took us to the Amazon instead. We had to survive there for a few days."

"Why didn't you just teleport back?"

"Gods can't teleport too many times in one day without revealing their existence to magical creatures and people watching from Olympus," Annabeth explained. "And we were trying to stay under the radar so…"

"Oh," Percy frowned for a moment before smiling. "That's a handy thing to know. Now if we ever come across those creatures again we'll know that they can't escape without being noticed by the Olympians."

"I don't think it's like that for them…" Annabeth muttered quietly but went unnoticed.

"Hey, that _is_ a good thing!" Leo agreed loudly.

"Can we stop talking about those things for a few minutes? I'm _starving_." Frank protested.

Piper and Hazel looked at each other exasperatedly. " _Boys_." They said in unison.

"But I'm hungry too," said Annabeth which made them all stare at her and silence descended for a moment. "What? I'm not going to keep it to myself because I'm a girl."

"We don't expect you to. It's just…" Jason gave her a calculating look. "On the Argo 2 you wouldn't have ignored the threat of these monsters in favour of your stomach."

"Yeah, well, it's like everyone says isn't it," The words felt strangely warm in Annabeth's mouth. "I'm different now."

And truer words had never been spoken, for Annabeth had not drawn up a plan for battle in half a year and had no idea what measurements to take for the rebuilding of an entire camp. She was not thrilled by the reunion of her and her friends and she wanted to be as far away from Percy Jackson as it was possible to get. But more than that, more than she wanted a Fanta and something decent to eat or to beat someone at Mario Kart, was to be with her _best friends_ again…

She wanted to be with the Street Rat Pack.

 _Her_ pack.

And she wanted it more than anything in the entire world.


	17. Make This Work

Chapter 16- Make This Work

Annabeth's first day in Camp Jupiter turned out to be incredibly long and stressful. After the dismissal by Chiron and overall dark attitude of the Greek campers towards her return, Annabeth had gone to the Mess Hall with the rest of the seven to talk about life in general and things that she had missed out on. Piper and Jason were maintaining their steady relationship, along with Hazel and Frank, and Leo was going to start a repair shop in a few months' time with Calypso that would also sell lemonade among other things. Percy was finishing his senior year at high school and both praetors had confirmed that he would be allowed to attend the university at Camp Jupiter and live the rest of his life at the Roman camp.

It was difficult to hide the unpleasant roll of her stomach when Percy revealed that the same offer had been extended to Annabeth herself. Even after all this time, she was _still_ being paired with the son of Poseidon and couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever had so little individuality in the past. Then again, she had never left Percy's side in the past because of her love for him so she probably wouldn't have minded back then. Now, however, things were completely different and the idea of going to a _mortal school_ only to end up spending the rest of her life with _Percy_ Jackson seemed like some horrible nightmare. Did they not care what she thought anymore? Had they cared in the past? Or was 'new Annabeth' such a far cry from the old one that they did not think her worthy of an opinion?

Fortunately, Annabeth had managed to avoid most of these thoughts by redirecting conversations and being completely evasive and difficult to talk to which did not make one son of Poseidon very happy. More than once Piper had been forced to take Percy outside and 'explain' how Annabeth was feeling at the moment and that he needed to be patient. She didn't realise that Annabeth heard every word and scoffed; she didn't need Percy to be _patient_ , she needed him to _get out of her life_. Worse still, everyone seemed to be under the impression that she and Percy were still together. _News Flash_ \- they weren't. What would it take for people to realise that thinking you had killed your love interest was enough to put a relationship on ice? It might have been more serious than _that_ even. Annabeth could not decide whether she wanted to pursue the broken friendship or leave it high and dry. She did know one thing though.

Percy had to keep his distance.

When dusk fell in the early evening, Hazel and Piper insisted on taking Annabeth to the place they were staying in so that she could get an early night's sleep. The action alone made Annabeth feel so much happier than when sat beside her ex-boyfriend that she almost skipped out the doors of the Forum they were walking through. It had become clear to the daughter of Athena in recent months that she was much more comfortable around girls than she was around boys. Perhaps it was because she had spent months living with only females, _perhaps_ it was because she had only ever been able to trust girls completely, excluding Newt, or _maybe_ … _Maybe_ it was because the only times she had poured her heart out to a boy the Fates had come along and laughed in her face before making the most horrible things happen to her. Yeah, that was probably it.

So, at seven o'clock at night with the sky in complete darkness and Piper having failed to get any details on how Annabeth was feeling about Percy, the girls turned into bed. Actually, _Annabeth_ went to bed but the other two were in the same room a few metres away talking about her. It was more disturbing than anything else in the day to know that her friends were talking about her behind her back but not in attempts to help her as the person she was _now_. No, it was all about the person she _was_ and no matter how many times they noted how different Annabeth had become they didn't seem to properly register it and think 'hmm, maybe we should think about what Annabeth wants _now_ instead?'

Five minutes after lying on the bed with her shoes on, ignoring the previously clean duvet, Annabeth's phone vibrated in her pocket. Hope building inside of her, Annabeth pulled the mobile out and noted that Kelly was calling her. Annabeth paused only a moment to make sure that the demi-gods nearby were still engrossed in conversation outside before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Annabeth," Kelly's smooth voice replied, as confident and flawless as ever "How's Roman life?"

"Um…" Annabeth glanced about the sparsely furnished room and thought of the day she had been through. "It's not great, I'll be honest."

"Not great," Kelly repeated sounding unimpressed. "Then why did you return?"

"Because my mother said-"

"Oh great, a _mother_ ," The older girl sighed exasperatedly. "Right, lay it on me. What's happened?"

Annabeth told Kelly everything that had happened after she arrived at Camp Jupiter and how she'd felt when it was happening. She felt better with each word that was spoken and Kelly was much easier to talk to than her intimidating exterior would suggest. Not that Annabeth could see her right now, of course.

"So these guys keep saying that they know you're different but aren't changing the way they act around you," Kelly summed up. "And your old mentor and father figure blanked you in front of the Greek counsellors."

"Yep, that's pretty much it."

"Not great at all then," said Kelly. "Annabeth I really don't think that you should be staying there. Why not find a way to leave?"

"I want to," Annabeth admitted. "But I also want to try and wait things out here to see if it can get better. I know I haven't really given you that impression but I owe these guys."

"Yeah, and they owe _you._ "

"But Kelly, if I leave it'll break their hearts and-"

"Listen, girl, if your life is one jump short of _bloody marvellous_ then it ain't the one you should be in. You have to go the distance and make every day the best damn day in history, understand?"

Annabeth went silent; the words rolled around in her head.

"Do you understand me, Annabeth?" Kelly asked again.

There was a moment of silence that remained unbroken when Annabeth nodded slowly. "Yes… I understand you."

"Good. I'll have my phone on me if things get serious."

"Kelly, you _always_ have your phone on you. You're the leader, remember?"

"Don't sass me, woman."

Annabeth chuckled. "What are you doing now? Pulling someone's butt out of the fire again?"

"Ha! I must have saved a dozen people from making _that_ mistake today," Kelly laughed. "Actually I was headed up to Olympus to check on Astrid and Sabine."

"What?" Annabeth sat up in bed. "You're actually _going_ there?"

"Yes, bird brain, that's how you check on people."

"But I thought the whole point of the pack was that no-one had to go up there and get noticed by an Olympian and have their life ruined."

"Not exactly, but that's a very good point," said Kelly. "It may not have looked it when you were up there but there couldn't be a more dangerous place for _either_ of those girls to be right now. Sabine's a wild card with a mother who could never understand her, no offence-"

"None taken."

"-and Astrid is the only child of the goddess of love and the god of forges. You saw how angry Ares was, right? That'll only be a shadow of what's to come if nothing else goes his way for a while. Bloody Olympians, always messing things up."

"If they're Olympians, how do you plan to look after Astrid and Sabine?" asked Annabeth.

"I'm Kelly Jones," Annabeth could sense the smirk on the other end of the phone. "I always find a way. Call me or Phoebe is something worse happens, okay? She's somewhat better than me at dishing out the insults and sticking it to the bad guys."

"I will," Annabeth agreed. She hadn't felt this much like her normal self all day. "Thanks Kelly."

"Don't mention it. Hey, you'd better hang up there are people coming into your room."

Annabeth looked up from the floor to see the handle of the door turning slowly and quickly hung up and hid her phone in her pocket once again as Pipers head peaked through the crack between the door and the wall.

"Hi," She greeted. "Can I come in? Hazel's gone to Centurion duty."

Annabeth nodded and tried not to look flustered as Piper closed the door behind her. Had she heard any of the phone call that had taken place moments prior?

"Something wrong?" Annabeth questioned.

"You tell me."

"Well, you said we were going to bed now and you haven't changed your clothes yet so-"

"Don't try that on me," Piper narrowed her eyes. "Who were you on the phone to?"

Busted. Time for another lie that would save her skin.

"Sabine," said Annabeth. "She wanted to know how I was doing."

"Well… what did you say to her?"

Annabeth paused for a moment, debating how much to reveal. "I told her it was awkward," She admitted slowly. "And that everyone's saying I'm different but not acting like I am."

Piper frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Ever since I got here people have been saying how much I've changed in the time I've been away," Annabeth explained. "And they're right. I have changed. But then they start talking to me like I haven't changed at all or as if I'm supposed to be the same person overall with just a few quirks and changes going on."

"And… this upsets you?"

"Of course it does! Why wouldn't it?"

"Well we just thought, since you hadn't been back in so long, that it would be best to treat you like your old self," Piper revealed. "You know, to help you get back into the swing of things."

"I don't want to get back into the swing of things," Annabeth mumbled. "I had a whole other life going on before I was ordered to come back here and I miss it. I _miss_ my family."

"But you can call them, right?" Piper tried for a smile but failed. "I mean, you were talking to your sister a few minutes ago."

"It's not the same," Annabeth sighed and lay back on the bed. "Maybe it would have been better if you all just thought I was dead."

"Don't say that!" Piper whacked Annabeth's leg. "If you hadn't revealed yourself then we would have all been caught in a drive for revenge that might have been impossible to escape. I didn't want Percy to move on from your death by spending the rest of his life hunting down the people who killed you."

"And I killed him…" Annabeth lifted her head to look at Piper. "What was going on with that imposter? How was he even made?"

"We don't know," Piper said ruefully. "We only know that they used Percy's blood to do it."

"So it's like a clone then."

"I think so, but that doesn't exactly look _good_ does it? These people can make clones of us if they get our blood."

"Yeah, thanks to the bloody blood stone, no pun intended."

"Wait," Piper leaned over to make eye contact. "Blood stone? What are you talking about?"

"The blood stone. You know, in the Motus Set and…" Annabeth trailed off. "I didn't tell you about that stuff did I? Oh crap, I forgot to tell the Olympians about the blood stone as well!"

"Woah, woah, what set?" Piper asked. "Did you find stuff out about the hooded things?"

"Yeah I did," said Annabeth. "And I know where they get their power from as well. Listen-"

Annabeth spent the next fifteen minutes telling Piper all about the stones and how they represented different emotions that could only be used by those who properly valued them. The talk with Kelly had made Annabeth much more open and agreeable than before, at least when there was only _one_ person in the room at a time, and while the two friends were actually talking about something for once it was nowhere near the happy memories that they had shared before. By the end of it, Piper looked more disturbed than she had when Percy had tried to kiss Annabeth on the cheek and she'd shoved him off his seat in a panic in the Mess Hall.

"So these stones give them special powers that are equal to the Olympians?" Piper asked.

"Yeah. Depending on how much they use the particular emotion, they could actually turn out to be _more_ powerful than them."

"Woah," Piper stared at the floor in thought. "That's not good."

"No." Annabeth agreed. Silence followed for a few minutes and Annabeth's mind couldn't help but drift to other things as this was happening; like when she'd get some sleep or could consider herself to be safe from the creatures who were hunting her.

"Okay," said Piper. "So… what's going on with you and Percy?"

"What?" Annabeth stared, dumbfounded. "Nothing, I already told you."

"Then why are you acting so strangely around him? I would have thought the two of you were going to have a happy reunion like you did all the other times one of you took off somewhere."

Annabeth sighed. "Piper, didn't I _just say_ that I was different now?"

Piper frowned. "Yes but-"

"But nothing! You don't just spend months thinking that you have _killed_ your boyfriend only to have him show up and realise that the person you killed was actually an imposter then resume the relationship like nothing has happened. It doesn't work like that! I thought you would have _known_ that as the daughter of the goddess of love."

"So... you still had feelings for Percy _before_ you killed the imposter?"

"Obviously."

"And when you killed him you thought that it was actually _Percy_ and…" Piper sighed. "Oh Annabeth, I didn't know it was that serious."

"Did I not say the exact same thing at the base of the mountain?"

" _No_ , actually. You just said that you had _killed_ the imposter and that he looked like Percy but you didn't say that you thought it was _actually him_. Not explicitly, at least."

"I… I didn't?"

"No," Piper gave her a strange look. "You can't remember your own conversations?"

"I've never really had to after I left," Annabeth mumbled. "It's always been about keeping your head down."

"I can tell," Piper sighed and laid down on the bed next to Annabeth. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are things so messed up?"

Annabeth frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean _this_. The instant we start to feel like we can settle down and live normal lives after the war with the Giants these maniac creatures start targeting _you_ and demolish Camp Half-Blood just because they can. They haven't even declared war on Olympus or anything!"

"They're probably waiting," said Annabeth gloomily. "Waiting for their master to rise and give them enough power to win."

"Which they can't do without you." said Piper.

"No, they can't do that without me. Which is why Camp Jupiter is probably going to get attacked by them pretty soon if they can't find a way to lure me out or send in an assassin to get my blood."

"Don't say that!" Piper smacked her leg again.

Annabeth recoiled. "Ouch! Damn it, woman, that hurt!"

"Well stop worrying me then!"

"Stop hitting me!"

"Or what?"

"Or I'll… I'll…" A dastardly idea came to Annabeth. "I'll tickle you."

Piper snorted. "Yeah, because _that's_ going to happen."

Annabeth smirked evilly before diving at Piper, hands going right for her sides and weight pinning her down so she couldn't get away. Within five seconds Annabeth was being forced to dodge out of the way of her flailing hands.

"Ack! No stop!" Piper choked out through her laughter.

"No stop? Okay, I won't."

"ANNABETH!"

"Do you promise not to hit me again?"

"YES!"

"Will you swear it?"

"NEVER! I CAN'T KEEP AN OATH LIKE THAT!"

"Okay then," Annabeth laughed as she released Piper and watched the other girl roll onto her side and suck in deep breathes. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I hate you." Piper mumbled into the sheets.

"I love you too," Annabeth grinned as she folded both arms behind her head. She sighed. "You know… I really want this whole 'me living at Camp Jupiter thing' to work."

"Okay," Piper lifted her head so her words were not muffled, her face was flushed from lack of breathing. "Then… what are you willing to do to _make_ it work?"

"I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "I don't actually feel like I have any freedom here anymore. Everyone's comparing me to my past self."

"Then why are you still here?" Piper frowned. "You don't feel like you _have_ to be, do you?"

"No, no," Annabeth thought for a moment before the words popped into her head. "A great woman once told me that if your life is anything short of bloody marvellous then it's not the one you should be leading. And my life isn't going to be anywhere close to _marvellous_ if I don't at least try with you guys. It certainly won't be _bloody marvellous_ if I leave without a word."

"That's good advice," Piper noted. "Who told you that?"

"A friend."

"Another _godly_ friend?"

Annabeth sighed and stared at the ceiling. "Everyone else thinks I only have two godly friends so I can't exactly go around screaming about this one. It's illegal for things like this to happen, you know."

"But handy though," Piper commented. "I won't ask her name. Just out of interest, though, how many gods did you meet when you were out there?"

"Approximate value or rounded?"

Piper stared at her.

"I'd say around a few hundred."

Piper smacked her.

"Hey!"

"I'm serious, Annabeth!"

"And I'm serious about the hitting thing. Stop it!"

"If you would just _tell me_ how many there are then-"

"Three," said Annabeth. "That's it."

"You're _sure_?"

"One hundred percent."

"One hundred and _ten_ percent?"

"Piper get out of my room."

Annabeth did not bother to change into her pyjamas once her friend had left and instead slipped off her shoes and remained lounging on the bed. She thought about her conversation with Kelly and how her talk with Piper had progressed afterwards. It had been so much easier after speaking to someone familiar that Annabeth had almost let slip how many members of the Street Rat Pack there actually where in the world.

Imagine, what would the Olympians do when they discovered that over three hundred immortals beneath the age of a hundred were out in the world and living completely separate from the parents who had scorned them?


	18. Rats on Olympus

Chapter 17- Rats on Olympus

As always, there was nothing but clear skies up on the stronghold of the gods and all manner of magical creatures could be seen bustling through the streets as they attended parties, meetings, bought things in the market or went to watch a concert being performed by the Muses. People tended to be in jolly mood whilst on Olympus but, considering that the last time she had been here she had packed a bag and legged it, Astrid was _not_ feeling it.

She'd only come out onto the balcony of her mother's mansion because the interior stunk of perfume and other beauty products that had seeped into the walls so that no amount of body odour or smoke could get rid of them; Astrid only found this out _after_ setting fire to a pair of curtains to try and cover the smell.

"Darling," Her mother's voice floated through the air from somewhere behind her. "Don't you want to come inside? It's getting cold out."

"Mum, winter doesn't exist up here and I'm a god of fire." Astrid reminded her without turning around.

"Oh," She didn't seem to have thought of that. "Well, come inside anyway. I've got something to show you."

Astrid sighed as she remembered the last thing her mother had shown her- a pink dress that was frilly and had bows on it. That had set their fortnight long relationship back by at _least_ five days.

"Alright," She turned around to find her mother in a white dress and paused. "Isn't that for council meetings?"

"We have one later about the factions," Aphrodite explained; she had figured out on the first day that Astrid was aware of the splinter groups of immortals. "Now come with me so I can show you what I found."

They walked together through the corridors that were full of such lavish and expensive goods that Astrid either had to stare straight ahead or at the floor to avoid looking at them. She'd seen people _starving_ in the world and her own mother hoarded all of these treasures that she would never need whilst making the lives of all creatures infinitely more difficult by causing them to fall in love with people they could never have.

The curtains in this hallway were purple and the floor was polished marble. Astrid had never been in it until she returned as her mother had taken to hiding the new-born inside one room so that her other children would not notice her and the whole 'climbing out the window' scenario had meant that Astrid did not see anywhere else in the mansion as she made her escape.

People passed them as they walked who bowed in respect to Aphrodite and gave Astrid curious looks. The servants, invisible or not, had taken a clear interest in Astrid due to her connection to the failed marriage between their mistress and Hephaestus. It was fair to assume that there had been a lot of gossip going around _before_ the marriage was destroyed and it was probably all resurfacing again because of Astrid's return and the revelation of her existence.

Finally, after walking up two flights of stairs and down another corridor, they came to a room with a simple brown door and brass handle. It was not at all like the rest of the rooms in the mansion despite being located just one floor down from Aphrodite's own bedroom.

"Go on," Her mother said encouragingly when Astrid gave her a confused look. "Open it."

She gingerly placed her hand on top of the handle and pushed it down, opening the door to the room and stepping inside cautiously. The most immediate thing she noticed was the smell; it smelt _nothing_ like the rest of the mansion. There was no perfume in the air or incense sticks that had been left to burn for so long that their smell became a permanent addition to the house.

The air inside of this room smelt fresh and slightly metallic which was interesting. In the centre of the room, there was a small round table that had a pile of tools and scrap metal on it. Leaning against the walls were clean sheets of metals such as celestial bronze, gold, steel and a strange black slab that Astrid guessed to be obsidian. Had this room always been here?

"Do you like it?" Aphrodite asked, for once her eyes looked slightly nervous.

"It's… yeah, it's…" Astrid turned to frown at her mother. "Did you get all this stuff?"

"Well, I got _some_ of it. The rest was brought by your father as part of the agreement we have."

"Oh," The _agreement_ was a way that the estranged husband and wife could both have equal parts in Astrid's life without interfering in each other's. Of course, it would have helped if Astrid knew the _terms_ of the agreement but apparently she wasn't allowed that privilege. "Um… _why_ exactly did you move all this stuff up here?"

"Partly because you keep taking apart all of your siblings stuff and they aren't too happy about it," said Aphrodite. "But also because we thought it would make you feel more at home to have all these things to build with and yet not live in a mountain like your father. That is how you lived before, wasn't it?"

"It was," Astrid had forgotten telling her mother about the place she had lived in before being forced to return to Olympus. She hadn't told her that it was a magical pocket, obviously, but she _had_ told her mother it was a house by a body of water and always quiet and peaceful. "So this is like… my space, or something?"

"It's a space to tinker with things, yes," Her mother said. "But I don't want these things all over the place so they stay in here and your bedroom stays where it is."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just move my bedroom in here?"

"And have you never leave it for the rest of your life? No. I want to actually see my daughter socialising with others instead of hiding in her room."

"I do socialise with others," Astrid protested. "I'm just not very good at it. Especially not when it's one of your other children I have to talk to."

Aphrodite sighed. "I've told you over and over again that gods have problems with their siblings. It's natural."

"It's natural for _your_ children to hate your husband's children. Seeing as I am both I doubt I'm ever going to fit in anywhere. Not even _his_ children seem to like me because they're all deformed and I'm…" Astrid sighed. In truth, she had expected her meeting with her father and his children to be far better than the cold shoulder's she'd received from the siblings on her mother's side, mainly because most of them were children of Ares, but _their_ reaction to her had almost seemed _worse_. They didn't like the fact that Astrid looked glum and unhappy when she was talented at mechanics _and_ good-looking. Not so much as her mother's other children, mind, but they didn't care about that. She had been shunned by them completely and Astrid had returned to her bedroom in her mother's mansion less than twenty minutes after departing with her father.

No-one looked surprised.

Her mother came up from her side and kissed her on the cheek. "If you can survive seventeen years out on the streets before maturing, you can survive here."

"Actually the streets are easier." Astrid mumbled but her mother only chuckled and shook it off; it was easy to see why someone who was an Olympian dating the god of bloodthirsty war would view life outside Olympus as dangerous. Aphrodite had probably never had any trouble on the mountain other than being tied up in a net by her husband

Someone knocked on the door behind them.

"Mother," The voice of Eros, or Cupid, drew their attention. "There is a problem on Line Eight- some mortal is refusing to fall in love."

"We'll see about that," Their mother muttered. "Have fun, dear."

"Right…" Astrid said unenthusiastically as she watched her mother leave without so much as a goodbye. "Fun in a box of scrap metal. Yay."

Eros stared at her for a moment and looked as though he wanted to say something. Probably a harsh reprimand by stating that their mother's attempts to be nice despite Astrid being the _spawn of Hephaestus_ were a privilege or to tell her to go away. They hadn't even spoken yet but Astrid found herself unaffected by his flawless features and wings that made so many others fawn over him like they did Aphrodite. That _had_ to be a bad sign.

"Have a nice day, Astrid." He said before turning and walking after their mother.

Astrid blinked in surprise as she processed the words. Not a 'get out of my way' or 'why are you here?' or 'don't you have something better to be doing than play with these things?' but a genuine response that wasn't fuelled by hate and prejudice. Maybe being more like their mother meant that he was not as cruel as the others? Astrid shook her head. That was a stupid thing to think; being like Aphrodite meant that you were _more_ cruel and shallow than other people. You could be warm and accepting at times but for most of her offspring there were moments when they simply couldn't help but be mean and judgemental of others. Astrid had only ever heard of a few who weren't that way and they were mostly demi-gods.

She sat on a chair that had been hidden from sight by a large sheet of gold and began to tinker with the pieces of scrap metal. Astrid did not need many of the tools as she was able to shape and mould the metal by using her own fire abilities and even celestial bronze was easy for her to melt.

She'd never tell her parents this, of course; things might get sticky if it was discovered that the young daughter of Hephaestus and Aphrodite was actually very powerful and outdid many of her siblings in raw ability. Without meaning to and halfway through her random creation, Astrid felt her eyes begin to drift shut from sheer boredom and fell asleep.

 _Buzz. Buzz._

Astrid was snapped out of her dozy state and looked around the room for a moment in the daze. What was vibrating? Another buzz told her that it was coming from her pocket. The _phone_. She answered it with a groan.

"Yeah?"

"Let me in."

"Kelly?" Astrid couldn't help but sound surprised. "I thought you were going abroad for a while."

"Went abroad, now I'm back. Let me in."

"Into what? The mansion?"

"No, the elevator; this guy won't let me up because I don't have any parents on Olympus and he's never seen me before."

"Normally you have to tell him who your parents are."

"Well I don't have any to tell about so _let me in_."

Astrid had never left the house so fast in her life. Not even when she had run away did she pelt through the corridors and fly out of the doorway leaving streaks on the recently cleaned floors that made the servants shake their fists in anger. She almost glided down the streets towards the elevator and some people stopped and stared at the sight of someone who had never smiled in all her time on Olympus grinning like a maniac and jumping about the place.

There were three people standing off to the side of the elevator doors and Astrid easily recognised Sabine's multi-coloured hair before she even got onto the bridge. The other two were Kelly and a burly man dressed in a security guard outfit; there had been so many reforms in the protection of Olympus since the wars with the Titans and Giants that Astrid almost wondered who the guy was and what he was there.

"Hi," Astrid skidded to a stop beside her two friends. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes," The man said in a deep voice. "She's got no-one to vouch for her being here."

"Olympus is open to all gods. Why do you need someone to vouch for her?"

The man snorted. "You're not going with the story your friends came up with, are you? This runt isn't a god."

"Yes she is," Sabine insisted. "How else did she teleport up here?"

"Beats me," said the man. "But eighteen year old goddesses are not this small and their magic doesn't radiate the way hers does. So what is she? Titan spawn? Descendant of the giants twelve times removed?"

"Very funny," Astrid growled. "I'm vouching for Kelly and we are leaving. Have fun standing here all day."

"Kelly? That's a mortal name!"

"You'll be mortal if you don't shift it," Kelly threatened as the man reluctantly lumbered out of the way. "What a piece of work."

"I know right," Sabine agreed as they all made their way across the bridge that connected Olympus to the mortal world. "He wouldn't even accept my vouching until you showed up!"

"That might have something to do with how crazy you are," Astrid commented. "But that was really strange. Normally that guy's completely fine with anyone walking in and doesn't say a thing."

"Probably felt threatened," Kelly flashed a trademark smirk. "You know, my _radiating_ and all."

"Shut up, Kel."

They dodged through the crowded streets and up into a field that was quieter than everywhere else due to the temples that sat nearby.

"Well? What are you doing here?" asked Sabine.

"Checking up on you," said Kelly. "You _did_ get uprooted from your lives and forced to confront your parents, after all."

"Yeah," Sabine snorted. "And that's going _swimmingly_."

"You too?" Astrid questioned.

"Yep. I tell you, the amount of people who think I was adopted is just insulting."

"Well that's good to know," Kelly muttered sarcastically. "That puts you two _and_ Annabeth on the danger list."

"Danger list?" Astrid frowned. "What are you on about?"

"You don't honestly believe that the people up here aren't going to try something, do you?" Kelly raised her eyebrows. "I give it before the end of the week when Ares tries to beat the stuffing out of you."

"We already knew _that_ ," Sabine whined. "What about me? Is there anyone coming for my guts?"

"Aside from yourself, I doubt it," Astrid grumped. "I think there should be a bit more focus on the fact that I am in the process of being sized up by an Olympian."

"He's not sizing you up, Astrid, he's probably just waiting until mummy and daddy aren't around to tell him to take a hike," Kelly pointed out. "Kind of like now."

"Nah, he won't do anything now," said Sabine. "There's a council meeting in two minutes and the war gods have to prepare the whole thing. My mum told me."

"Doesn't mean other people won't come after me," Astrid noted. "Why did the king think it was a good idea for me to stay here? I thought he was supposed to be the god of honour and justice."

"I think his ego overrides that a lot," Kelly agreed; Astrid vaguely acknowledged that there was no thunder booming or thugs coming to punish them, hinting that they had escaped his notice. "So, what do you do for fun up here?"

"Well there's-"

They spent the remainder of the day wandering through the streets and winding tunnels and slopes of Olympus. Sabine was the one who led them to all the different events since Astrid had no idea what was going on due to her anti-social behaviour, feelings about both sides of the family rejecting her and recent worries about what Ares would do if he got his hands on her.

They journeyed to the concert where the Nine Muses sung some pretty amazing songs, though it was mostly classical related, and wandered through the exhibition of famous statues and art that was a recent addition to the mountain. Most of the time, however, was spent observing the intricate designs of each building and how each one linked together but had subtle differences that made them all unique. The statues weren't that bad either.

"Let me get this straight, you're telling me that _Annabeth_ designed this place?"

"Yep." Sabine replied without looking back at Astrid.

" _Our_ Annabeth?"

"Yes."

"That's so _weird_."

"I know, right? I told mum the same thing but she said that Annabeth was different before she ran away and that she used to be the best strategist and architect the demi-gods had."

"I'm assuming that's not true anymore," said Kelly. "She's still smart, of course, but I've never really seen her get into anything other than friendships before."

"Mum seems to think that she's 'lost her way'," Sabine quoted. "Something about PTSD and me infecting her with my idiocy."

" _Or_ , here's an idea, she might just have _changed_ a bit and has done what all teenagers do which is get one idea they like and then forget about it two minutes later because they aren't actually interested and are still growing up."

"Yeah that does happen a lot," Astrid agreed. "Just look at us."

"No clue what we want to do or when we want to do it." Sabine added with a nod of confirmation.

"Most teenagers are like that."

"If not all of them. Why is it that it's perfectly acceptable _not_ to know what you're doing when you're fifteen but when you're sixteen-"

"BAM!"

"You jump on the band wagon or get left behind because life _is_ _calling_."

"That's society for you," Astrid agreed. "All strung up and complicated enough to force children into school just so they can get ready for it."

"And what makes society ready for us?" Kelly teased, flashing a grin at them.

Sabine frowned and scratched her head for a moment. "I suppose... nothing. Nobody in mum's house was ready for me."

"They certainly weren't ready for me," said Astrid. "Not in my mother's house and not in my fathers."

"And it's the world that's unprepared for me," Kelly finished. "I'm starving. Do you want to go get something to eat in New York?"

"I'm not allowed off the mountain," Sabine mumbled. "Mum doesn't trust me."

"I've been told the same," Astrid added. "No leaving until they know we won't make a run for it."

"So it's like you're in prison then," A dark look crossed Kelly's face. "This is ridiculous. I've half a mind to leave and take you two with me."

"You can't say things like that," Sabine pointed out. "What if they hear you?"

"They won't hear me because I've cloaked myself," Kelly replied. "Why do you think no-one swung for us when we were talking about Zeus?"

"You can hide yourself from the Olympians?"

"Yeah," Kelly shrugged like it was nothing. "I didn't want anyone trying anything while your parents were gone. The meetings almost over though so you'd better get back."

"Um… Kelly," Astrid asked. "How powerful _are_ you exactly?"

"What?" Kelly frowned. "Why does that matter?"

"Well, you can cloak yourself from the Olympians when you're on their own _mountain_ ," Sabine pointed out. "And that guy was going on about you not being a god, so…"

Kelly sighed and rubbed her eyes with two fingers. "Look, _despite_ how this seems right now, I swear to you that I _am_ a god. I'm just growing at a smaller rate physically, is all. My mother didn't exactly stick around long enough to ensure that I would be born after the full nine months so-"

"You were born before those nine months were up?" Astrid frowned.

"Yeah, by three weeks which doesn't seem like much but it all counts. Anyway, I really think you two should go back home before the Olympians come to a decision about the factions and hooded guys."

"Why?"

"Because they already have it out for us 'minor gods' and I have a feeling that things are about to get a hell of a lot worse before this blows over."

 _ **Trying something different to advance this part of the story.**_


	19. Persecution of the Innocent

Chapter 18- Persecution of the Innocent

It had been almost a week since her return to Camp Jupiter and Annabeth found herself steadily becoming more and more comfortable around her old friends and comrades. True, some people still hadn't entirely forgiven her for running away but there were now more people who liked her and things were getting better every day. Annabeth had held an almost full conversation with Percy without blanking him out or being evasive which was no small amount of progress and Reyna was considering allowing Annabeth to get involved in the planning of attacks on monster groups in a few days' time. So yes, one might say that Annabeth Chase was feeling quite content with her life at the moment.

"Want to get some hot chocolate?" Hazel asked one day as the two sat lounging in the Fields of Mars. "Reyna's had some more stands put around New Rome."

"I wonder why," Annabeth smirked. "Yeah, let's get some."

They got up from their sitting positions and strode towards the Pomerian line. The thought of having a hot drink in the cold weather of January made Annabeth's heart soar and her feet were freezing in her shoes. She probably shouldn't have sat down in the frostbitten air for an hour and a half in the first place but that was just how the day had gone.

"Hey, what's that?" Hazel frowned at something up ahead. "What are all those people doing?"

At the border of the Pomerian line, a large group of demi-gods in orange t-shirts and purple togas were forming a large crowd in front of the check in point of Terminus. They were all talking loudly and continuously jostled each other as each person tried to get to the front.

"Halt!" Hazel cried in her centurions voice. "What is going on here?"

Some of the Roman campers from the fifth cohort turned to face her. "Sorry, Centurion Hazel, but these guys showed up and-"

" _Argh!_ _Get off me you swine!_ " A familiar voice from the front of the crowd interrupted.

Hazel and Annabeth forced their way to the front to find Terminus, the god of borders, in some kind of mad scramble with a group of three men who radiated power like only an immortal could. They were flailing about on the floor and Terminus seemed to be putting up a good fight despite not having any arms; it must have been his magic that was saving him front instant defeat. Annabeth drew her sword.

"Stop it!" She ordered the three attackers. "Let him go or I'll slice your limbs off!"

"Back off demi-god," One of the men snarled. "We are here on Olympian business."

"What?" Annabeth was stumped. "Terminus isn't an enemy of Olympus."

"No but he's a minor god. The new law states that all minor gods must be tagged so that they cannot get up to any illicit activities."

"You can't be serious," said Dakota who stood with an imperial gold sword drawn but was unable to get towards Terminus through all the thrashing around. "You can't _tag_ gods!"

"The Olympians disagree." One of the men managed to get the upper hand and pinned Terminus to the ground where his statue could do little more than scream insults at them; another man drew something from his pocket and tied it around the statues waist. It looked like an ankle monitor only adjusted for a wider size.

Something dawned on Annabeth. "This is because of the factions, isn't it?" She asked.

All three men turned to look at her.

"How do you know about that?" One asked.

"None of your business," Annabeth spat. "What you're doing is ridiculous!"

"How so?" Another asked. "All members of the factions are minor gods so it makes sense to track the movements of _all_ minor gods, does it not?"

"No, it doesn't!" said Hazel.

"You can't deal with an insurgency by persecuting everyone within a certain group," Annabeth snarled. "That will just drive more people to break away from Olympus because they aren't being accepted! Are the Olympians _mad_?"

Thunder boomed in the distance.

"I'd watch what you say if I were you, girl," A man snapped. "Half-bloods should know better than to question the skills of the gods."

"Skill? You call it _skill_ what they're doing?" Annabeth couldn't believe her ears. "Let me tell you what _skill_ is, moron. Skill is being able to deal with a group of people who are evasive and difficult to get a hold of without discriminating against everyone with similarities towards them. _Skill_ is finding out information about a bunch of criminals without offending everyone you come across. And if the people who made this decision had a shred of thought within their skulls then they would not be doing such a _stupid_ and _prejudiced_ thing because their egos are so _big_ that they have to call all gods _less powerful_ than they are _minor!_ "

Thunder boomed directly above them now and Annabeth knew she was pushing it but couldn't bring herself to care. She was sick and tired of the Olympians antagonising others and then claiming that they should all be 'working together' and not mouthing each other off.

"Annabeth," Hazel warned. "Maybe you should tone it down a bit."

"How many people are being tagged?" Annabeth demanded, ignoring the younger girl and stares people were giving her.

"Every minor god in the world," One man answered with a glare. "Now get out of here before we destroy you, weakling."

"Every god you come across that isn't an Olympian?" Annabeth asked.

" _Yes_."

"Annabeth," Hazel was tugging at her sleeve now. "Let's go. Reyna's coming; she'll deal with it."

Fuming, Annabeth let herself be dragged away by the daughter of Pluto but never turned her back on the three men as she glared at them with deadly intent. Only when the crowd closed up again and hid said men from view did she allow that glare to falter in its intensity. Her breathing was heavy with emotion and her heart felt like it had crawled up into her throat to scream itself out to to the world. This couldn't be happening; they were _tagging_ people who had done nothing wrong!

"Annabeth," Hazel tried to get her friend to look her in the eye as they came to a stop beside the Principia. "Annabeth, hey… calm down, alright?"

"Calm down?" She might as well of told her to walk off a cliff. "Did you not hear what they-"

"I _know_ what they said but there's nothing we can do right now. If the Olympians made this decision then their minds aren't going to be changed by a couple of half-bloods. The only other way we could help was if we knew some minor gods but since we don't-"

"That's it," Annabeth said, ideas popping into her head. "That's _exactly_ it."

"What?" Hazel frowned. "What are you on about?"

"Stay here."

"But Annabeth-"

"Just stay here alright?" Annabeth called over her shoulder as she turned and ran towards the border of the Roman camp.

She just needed a place that was out of the way and safe to make phone calls from without getting the stink eye from traditional demi-gods who felt that phones should not be allowed. Annabeth ignored Hazel's cries for her to come back and explain what she was going to do and jumped into the Little Tiber as she waded across with inhuman speed. This thing the men were going on about, _if_ it was true, was just plain ridiculous and Annabeth found herself unable to accept it unless she spoke to another immortal who would know the truth.

The trees on the other side of the river provided the perfect camouflage and Annabeth did a quick check around her to make sure that no-one had followed her before whipping her phone out of her pocket and dialling the contact she needed to speak to the most.

"Yo!"

"Kelly," Annabeth said urgently. "We need to talk."

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah. The Olympians have passed this new law that requires all minor gods to be tagged and tracked wherever they go."

"What?" Kelly sounded dumbfounded. "Are you serious right now?"

" _Yes_ I just saw Terminus get tagged less than two minutes ago. The men who did it said they had instructions from the Olympians to tag every minor god they came across."

"Crickey," There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Right, okay. I'm gonna go and find out more about this thing and how many people it will affect."

"What about me?"

"Stay where you are, keep your head down and act like you have begrudgingly accepted the Olympians rules."

" _Why_?"

"Because you won't be able to maintain contact with me if they find out how opposed to it you are," said Kelly. "Can you do that?"

"I might have already shown how opposed to this rule I am," Annabeth mumbled. "But I can try to look like I'm accepting it, I guess."

"You're gonna have to try," Kelly agreed. "Acting is an important skill of a Street Rat. You'll get the hang of it one day. Now I have to go. See ya."

"Yeah, bye." Annabeth replied as she heard the beeps that signalled her friend had hung up.

She sighed and slid her phone back into her pocket. Well that had been a… _riveting_ conversation. That had to be one of the shortest talks Annabeth had ever had with one of her friends. The sounds from Camp Jupiter were slightly louder than they had been when she had taken off and Annabeth hoped they weren't all talking about her when she got back. The water of the Little Tiber seemed much more colder when she waded across it on her return journey. Now that there was no adrenaline to prevent the cold from getting to her Annabeth was starting to feel chilly and made a mental note to change her wet trousers once she got back to her, Piper and Hazel's barracks. It was more of a house actually but the Romans insisted on militarising everything.

Annabeth decided to jog the rest of the way back once her toes started to go numb and found her friends huddled together beside the Principia where Annabeth had left Hazel and told her to stay put. It seemed the girl had kept to her word.

"Annabeth!" Jason ran out to greet her. "What happened? Where did you _go_?"

"Just to the border," Annabeth replied. "Needed to make a call."

"Let me guess, to some of your godly friends?"

"Yeah," Annabeth sighed. "I wanted to warn them just in case they hadn't been caught yet."

"They'll be alright. You say so many good things about Sabine and Astrid that it seems stupid that they'd ever get caught by a bunch of thugs. Besides, they probably won't need to be tracked if they're living with their mothers, will they?"

"If you had met them you wouldn't be saying that," Annabeth grinned. "But I don't think the Olympian council knows that… ha! I can't wait to see what they get up to."

"You don't think they'll turn into Robin Hood like characters do you?" asked Piper.

"Gods I hope not." Annabeth shuddered at the thought of an outlawed Sabine; with everything to gain and nothing to stop her from doing as she pleased all day.

"Let's go inside," Piper suggested. "It hasn't gotten any warmer this month."

"It won't," said Annabeth. "I spent a few school years in San Francisco with my dad and January and December are always the coldest months."

"Yeah, it's always been like that," Jason agreed. "To the mess hall? Percy and Leo are in there with Calypso."

"I'll bet that's a laugh," Annabeth mumbled under her breath, thinking of how the two demi-gods had both captured the attention of the daughter of Atlas. "Alright, let's go."

The mess hall was a lot busier at lunch time than at breakfast, Annabeth had noted, which probably had something to do with the fact that she'd developed a habit of sleeping until nine and not getting out of bed until ten. By then, the ever strict Romans were hard at work and seeking out monsters to kill and looking for clues on dangerous enemies. Piper was not on any of these adventures, being a Greek, and so the two would often go to breakfast together at incredibly late times when there was nobody around to give them the stink eye for tardiness. This didn't bother Annabeth, who was learning to not care what her fellow demi-gods thought about her, and Piper was happy to have an excuse for a lie-in so it was a win-win situation.

Inside the mess hall, both the Romans and Greeks were sat together lounging on low red sofas and having their meals delivered by swirling wind spirits or summoning them on magic plates. It really was quite amazing how well the two camps were getting on together, even if some lingering resentment still remained, and Annabeth was assured that if disaster ever did come to Camp Jupiter then the monsters would find lines of demi-gods from Rome and Greece waiting to give them their comeuppance.

They went over to the corner where two demi-gods and a girl who looked fifteen sat talking.

"Hi Annabeth," Percy greeted as he stood up so that she, Piper and Jason could sit between him and Calypso. "How's it going?"

"Not sure yet." Annabeth replied.

"Oh," Percy frowned. "Well… maybe the rest of the day will cheer you up?"

"Are we invisible?" Jason frowned. "Where is _my_ 'hello'?"

"With your better attitude," Percy grumbled. "I'm busy, dude!"

"Trying to get your girlfriend back?"

Percy looked like he was about to retort but stopped and quickly glanced at Annabeth warily. They didn't speak about their relationship, whatever it was, anymore and the fact that Jason had called Annabeth Percy's girlfriend made her skin crawl. Had they _not_ been over this a thousand times? She needed _distance_. Not tough love or a shoulder to cry on- _distance_.

Piper elbowed her boyfriend in the stomach. "So what have you three been talking about?" She asked, clearly attempting to divert such an awkward conversation. "Is the garage up and running yet?"

"Not yet," Leo grinned. "But it's only a few more weeks until we're ready. Just need to get some more tools and materials and do a bit of refurbishing and we're set."

"We still need to advertise," Calypso pointed out. "And buy the lemonade."

Leo waved a hand dismissively. "We don't need advertising. No-one's going to be able to resist my bad boy looks and we can get lemonade from the store."

"Bad boy?" Piper snorted.

"Hey!" Leo puffed out his chest. "Look at my muscles and say that again, Pipes."

"What muscles?" Calypso commented. "You're scrawnier than me."

"Feel the burn." Piper agreed.

"I'm immune to fire, remember? And you say I'm mad-"

It was at this point that Annabeth zoned out. This was exactly what she had been attempting to avoid since coming back to Camp Jupiter; all these people in comfortable relationships and friendships was discouraging to her already tested social skills. Honestly, Annabeth had nothing against idle chit-chat. She had spent almost two-thirds of her life doing nothing but sit around and talk with her friends and family. The real test to her patience was how everyone, except Piper and Hazel, continued to act as though Annabeth was still her old self and just needed coaxing out of a shell she'd created for herself. Could it be true that there really was something wrong with boys? Absolutely. But it wasn't just boys who were acting this way so she had concluded that everyone around her was positively mad. That made her feel better.

One thing that had been consistently bugging Annabeth, however, was Chiron's continued ignoring her. Granted, he had been busy attempting to look after his remaining campers and remove strain on the Roman camp but it still would have been nice if he could even look her way at least once in a while. He had not smiled at Annabeth or acknowledged her existence and that was as big a deterrence to fall back into old habits at the demi-god camp than all her Percy anxieties and pet peeves combined. Could he really be so angry at Annabeth for leaving? Or was she losing her mind and looking for attention that she could not receive? She did not know exactly _how_ busy he was, after all, and it might literally have been a case of him being too caught up in work to notice her.

"… Annabeth didn't like it very much." Hazel was saying which made Annabeth's head snap up.

"What?"

"You really don't pay attention anymore," Piper stated with a teasing smile. "We're talking about the tracker that's on Terminus."

"Oh."

"I was wondering why you blew up like that when they told you why they were doing it," said Hazel. "You said things about people not being accepted and the Olympians discriminating against everyone for sharing similarities with others."

"The factions," Jason added. "That was what you called them, right?"

"I said that?" Annabeth questioned, placing a confusing look upon her face.

"Nice try," said Piper. "What are they?"

"Yeah and why are all the minor gods being tagged because of them?" Leo added.

"Uh…" Annabeth glanced around nervously; how could she explain this without revealing Kelly to them? "The factions are basically groups of gods who supported Gaia in the war and have banded together to form societies that defend them from Olympus. But then some leaders took over who had set their sights higher than protection and now they're causing trouble for the Olympians and anyone loyal to them."

"That must be what was making Mr. D so annoyed," Percy noted. "He was crabby because these gods were making things difficult for the Olympians to regain control over everyone."

"So they've tagged everyone to try and catch these guys," Jason summed up. "But they don't actually know who the members of these groups are?"

"No." Annabeth replied.

"Oh... not that I can't see _why_ they did it but, uh, how is it going to help? What are they going to question them every time they go into a pub or something? They have no way of knowing what they're up to."

"Exactly," Annabeth agreed. "That what I was thinking. What's the point of tagging innocent people? It restricts their freedom and takes away resources that could be used to find the real culprits."

"I wonder what they were thinking when they came up with this," Percy mused. "Just knowing where people are isn't going to let you know what they're up to."

"It's going to be a lot of work doing that to minor gods as well," Calypso chimed in. "I've never known people who resent their parents for not spending any time with them but will fight to stay away from them if their parents attempt to make decisions in their lives."

"Well that's not exactly spending time with them, is it?" Annabeth asked. "You only get one life and it's yours. Why should other people get to decide how you live it?"

"Wise words," said Piper before her face turned serious. "You don't think this will make things worse, do you?"

"Of course it's going to make things worse," Annabeth grumbled. "More people are going to be pushed into rebellion by this act. It's ridiculous to just tag everyone."

"We shouldn't go jumping to conclusions," said Jason. "We don't know the full extent of this decision and there might be things we don't know about that will make people happy."

"I doubt it," said Leo. "When have the Olympians excelled at making minor gods happy?"


	20. El Capitan Meadow

Chapter 19- El Capitan Meadow

The night was cool and dry in Japan with stars shining brightly in the sky and no vehicles to be seen in El Capitan Meadow. Unfortunately, the usually peaceful setting of the countryside had been disrupted by the violent conflict that had erupted between the two leading Factions after tensions had skyrocketed because of the Olympian's new law. No-one wanted to walk around with ankle trackers on for the rest of eternity and there were a multitude of ways being discovered to avoid such a fate but there was a slight problem with these. There were only so many to go around.

And for the Factions who had dozens of members and twice as many enemies in rival groups there was no chance of a peaceful solution to this problem.

It was for this reason that a firefight had erupted between two of the biggest and most powerful Factions in the world and caught Kelly Jones and her quarry between them. Normally, Kelly would not have been caught in a firefight between anyone but this time she had no choice because the man she was chasing had deliberately run towards it in the hopes of deterring her. Moron. If she was willing to hunt the guy down and chase him across two continents in an attempt to end his slave business then she was willing to chase him through two groups of violent immortals. You didn't become the leader of three hundred gods and goddesses by hesitating.

"Back off Jones!" The man known as Stingy Steel shrieked, attempting to outrun her. "You'll never beat me!"

"Is that why you're running?" Kelly taunted as she sprinted towards him, slowly gaining more and more ground.

On the north side of the battlefield, a god dressed in plastic Roman armour raised his fist in the air and screamed orders at his Faction in Mandarin. The immortals on one side all bunched up together, shoulder to shoulder, and raised their weapons for a charge. It wasn't very well organised and there didn't seem to be a single military tactician among them, but the Faction drove forwards into their enemy and seemed to make enough progress to worry the leader of the opposing Faction. He climbed on top of a wooden tourist shelter and screamed orders for a counter-attack to his soldiers. They scrambled about and soon the battlefield resembled a fist fight between bunches of untrained fighters; a fire started on one of the trees.

"Get away!" Stingy Steel threw something at her, a pebble, and stumbled back around as he tried to keep ahead of her. "You'll never break me!"

 _Stingy piece of dirt_ , Kelly thought, ignoring the irony behind that statement.

She had almost caught up with him and had an arm reached out to grab the back of his shirt and tackle him to the ground when a Faction warrior appeared in front of her. He had a Darth Vader helmet on and wore a Velcro vest that looked like the ones that had foam bullets shot at them so that you would know if you'd hit your friend or not. He raised his weapon, a baseball bat wrapped in Celestial Bronze wire, and swung for her. Kelly ducked down to avoid the swing and kneed him in the gut, flipping him over to the side and watched as he tumbled to the floor in pain. Right, now she just needed to-

Another Faction soldier appeared in front of her.

"Die!" He screamed.

"None of us can die, idiot!" Kelly shouted back, punctuating the last word with a kick to the chest. She looked around for where Stingy Steel had gotten to.

Amazingly, the guy had managed to find some rope in the midst of the chaos and was scaling the face of the mountains that encompassed the meadow. He was only a few metres off the ground but Kelly had not rope which meant he would either get up faster or she would waste more energy trying to catch him which wasn't brilliant.

Some celestial bronze bullets soared over her head as Kelly ran to the base of the cliff face and began to scale it the old fashioned way. The fire in the meadow was spreading now and the entire right sight was lit up in bright orange flames that sent people running in all directions to escape the scorching heat. The Faction leaders were having minimal success with leading their troops effectively and an explosion rocked the mountains opposite Kelly a few moments later. More bullets were fired from guns and one came so close to her face that she stared at the place where it had hit the rocks for a brief second in shock before climbing faster. The higher she got the darker it was and if it was dark then they'd have a harder time hitting her.

A rock slide tumbled down from above and placed small cuts on Kelly's fingers.

"Be gone Jones!" Stingy Steel exclaimed, kicking down some more rocks to impede her climb.

That made her angry.

"Tell me where they are and I'll go!" She shouted back.

"Never!" More rocks came flying down.

Of course, if Stingy Steel was stupid enough to kidnap some of Kelly's friends and expect no retribution then he was definitely stupid enough to not know when to give up. Didn't he know that she wasn't going to stop chasing him? Kelly Jones never gave up.

They climbed for a few more minutes and the air became colder and filled with smoke as time went by. The fire was so big now that it took up the entire space beneath them and if either of them fell they would go straight into it. Finally, Stingy Steel disappeared from view as he climbed onto a ledge and Kelly was forced to go up a different way to avoid being shoved off by her waiting enemy. When she got up, she saw Shifty Steel hiding behind a decent sized boulder waiting for her to emerge from the side he had crawled up. Moron.

"Stingy," Kelly growled as she came up behind him; she refused to call him Steel. " _Where are they_?"

"Jones, be reasonable, I-I can't just-" He stumbled backwards. "I've got clients who need people and quotas to meet a-and-"

Kelly's face became darker and more dangerous than anytime previously in their chase. "Tell me where those cages are, slavemonger, or I'll throw you off this cliff and see how well you fly."

"W-well it's just that I-I can't be seen to, uh, well-" He continued to back up until he came right to the very edge of the flat ground but didn't seem to realise. Kelly noticed the top of an iPhone sticking out of his pocket. "I-I really can't tell you-"

Stingy Steel backed up some more and finally went over the edge that he had grown closer and closer to as he shifted away from her. Kelly darted forwards and swiped the phone from his pocket just as the scumbag tumbled off the side and flopped onto every rock the mountain had to offer as gravity pulled him down. She didn't really care what happened to him, he'd be dead anyway seeing as he wasn't immortal, and Kelly noted with satisfaction that he had not used a password to protect the contents of his phone from others. It seemed the slime had no intelligence with technology either.

Kelly flicked through the various messages and notes on the phone until she found what she was looking for. A text that was less than a day old and had come from some guy named Steve.

 _New Stock Acquired- NY, Richmond Terrace_

Her friends were in New York.

Kelly sighed and locked the phone again. Should she teleport to New York? There was no guarantee that her friends would still be there if she took the long way and she didn't want any buyers to come along and whisk them away. Mind made up, Kelly closed her eyes in resignation and felt the familiar pull of her magic as the ground beneath her feet vanished and was replaced with hard concrete.

It was midday in New York, Japan was almost a solid twelve hours ahead in time, and there were roads and cars in just about every possible location. The rural setting that Kelly enjoyed so much had practically vanished and she found even more reason to despise the city when a nearly broken car drove by and sent fumes flying everywhere. And there were people here who claimed global warming was a _myth_.

Hypocrites.

She walked around the streets for a bit and stretched out her senses for something familiar. There, a few feet below ground, were the auras of six of her friends and a bunch of other magical creatures. They must have been in a basement of some kind and it didn't take very long to figure out which one. Honestly, why would someone think of hiding slaves beneath a shop titled 'Free Storage'. Was this some attempt at a cruel joke on the fates these people were being forced into? It didn't matter anymore seeing as Kelly had Stingy's phone and planned on freeing every slave she came across.

There were only mortals guarding the inside and Kelly walked straight past them without any notice since godly abilities could influence the minds of all mortals as easily as a flower could be stepped on. Surprisingly, there weren't any immortals guarding the basement and the only defences on the inside were the pressure triggered traps that fired smoke grenades out of the open door and the celestial bronze cages that lined the walls.

The cages were all very small which was not good for creatures such as nymphs and satyrs who required at least human sized spaces just to sleep. There were around thirty beings inside the basement cages and they all looked very fearful as Kelly entered. All except the six at the back, that is.

"Kelly!" Thomas greeted in amazement. "You found us!"

"Of course I did," said Kelly as she walked right up to the locks of his cage and used her magic to destroy them. "Stingy was as dull as the come. I'm surprised his slave business made it this far."

"Well the weak minded are easily influenced," He nodded thoughtfully. "Now get us out of here."

Kelly undid the locks on all six cages and pointed them in the direction of the door. "There aren't any guards and no CCTV cameras have been hijacked. You can literally walk right out."

"Thanks Kel."

She watched them go before turning to the other cages. "Right," She set her eyes on the closest cage containing a nymph. "Now it's your turn."

It took a lot longer than she was expecting, but Kelly managed to open all of the cages and send the various magical creatures on their way. Some of them dropped to their knees and professed their undying gratitude for being released, which creeped her out so much she pulled them to their feet and shoved them out the door, and others were so afraid that they bolted the instant the cage doors were open. The rest said a simple 'thanks' and left which was exactly the kind of attitude Kelly was okay with. Short, sweet and to the point.

Thirty minutes after entering, Kelly left the storage shop and strolled out onto the streets as casually as possible. Turns out, she needn't have bothered looking normal as there were already people waiting for her.

"Sup kid," A man who wore a fancy leather jacket and black sunglasses greeted her. "Nice work you did there. But I'm afraid," He drew an ankle monitor from somewhere behind him, she hoped not his butt, and waved it about. "All you minor gods have to wear these."

Kelly frowned and stood up straight, ignoring the fact that her brown and faded leather jacket looked downright simple next to the newcomers clothing.

"Oh yeah? Says who?"

The man chuckled in amusement. "Kids these days, not knowing who their elders are. I'm Ares, squirt, Olympian god of war."

Kelly was unimpressed. "Don't you mean the god of bloodthirsty war? There are tons of war gods now."

"Did you just sass me?" He shook his head in disappointment. "No respect. Now come here so I can put this on you and get a cheeseburger. It's not fun chasing you lowlifes about."

She considered the options for a moment. One the on hand, Kelly could refuse to let him put the ankle tracker on her and make a run for it which would almost certainly end with her caught, the ankle bracelet _on_ and an Olympian who didn't think much of her. On the other hand, Kelly could comply and take the ankle tracker off after he left since the complex mechanisms that baffled most gods were a cinch for her.

She sighed exasperatedly and walked towards him.

"Finally," He grumped; it was doubtful that the god of bloody conflict would ever be happy with something. "Now stand still so I can-" He froze as he took his own step forward. "What the hell?"

"What?" Kelly asked uninterestedly as she felt that his eyes had not left her. "My jacket offending you?"

"Shut it, twerp," Ares grabbed a fistful of the material on her sleeves. "You're coming with me."

"'Ey?"

The ground vanished from beneath her feet again as Ares teleported them both to a different place. A place that had a blue ceiling glittering with constellations and twelve thrones in a U shape around a glowing hearth. Had he arrested her? Because mocking him a little seemed like a poor excuse to take her to the Hall of the Gods. Although, he _was_ incredibly touchy so he might have just lost it for no apparent reason. There was a crowd of other gods in the centre of the room all shouting and complaining to the powerful gods that sat on their thrones; it seemed no-one was happy with the whole tracking idea.

"My lord," Ares spoke to a man with a salt and pepper beard who sat on a platinum throne in the middle of the U. "We have a problem."

"Oh," The man stared down at them with electric blue eyes. "A Faction member?"

"No," said Ares. "But I'm not sure _what_ she is, exactly. Look closely."

He shoved Kelly forwards a step which made her throw a dirty glare his way. This had better not be about what she thought it was about.

"Hmm," The man in the suit hummed. "I see. That _is_ a problem."

"I knew it was."

"What are you?" The man asked Kelly.

"Come again?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What species?" The man specified. "A new titan? Giant? No you couldn't be those, too small. Are you a cross between two types?"

"Types of what?"

The man sighed. " _Immortals_ , girl. What type of immortal are you?"

"A goddess."

"No," A woman on the left hand side said; she had black hair and vibrant eyes. "You are too small to be a god."

"I was born early." said Kelly, suddenly feeling defensive.

"How early?"

"Three weeks."

"Rubbish, a god wouldn't be this small if it was only three weeks early." Ares grumbled from behind her.

"Tell the truth," The man from earlier spoke, sounding incredibly stern. "How early was your birth?"

Kelly sighed. "Three months. My mother couldn't commit to parenting so she forced me out three months early."

"And where is she now?"

"No idea. Mothers who can't commit usually don't keep their children around."

"So you're an abandoned baby," Another man deduced, he had sea green eyes and black hair. He turned to the man who spoke first. "The mother probably did it when she sensed the difference and got scared."

"Differences in species are rarely sensed before birth," said a woman who had not spoken before. Kelly really needed to learn which Olympian was which. "It is more likely that the mother was simply too petty to want a baby and only learned of the difference afterwards."

"Um, excuse me," Kelly interrupted, unfazed when all their eyes turned to her. "But _what_ difference would that be?"

They stared at her.

"You don't know?" The woman questioned.

"I think we've established that." Kelly replied, feeling annoyed at the cryptic answers. Was this how demi-gods felt when they came across an immortal? Actually, she had a very good idea what they were on about but she didn't want them to know that she was in on it. After all, the best way to face an enemy was to keep them in the dark about your plans.

"Interesting," The important looking man, it had to be Zeus, said. "We'll have to look into this. Hebe! Come here a moment."

A teenage girl who looked fifteen shimmered into the room. She had brown hair and chocolate eyes.

"Take this girl… what's your name?"

"Kelly."

"Kelly?"

"Kelly Jones." Would she always have to introduce herself to people this way? Mortal names really baffled gods sometimes.

"Right," Zeus looked sceptical. " _Kelly_. Well then, take Miss Jones to a readily available room."

"But father, all of the guest rooms are being used by those advisors who came to speak to you." Hebe pointed out.

"Oh, yes, so they are. Well, take her to a room that's still available and in the palace. Off with you both."

Hebe bowed to her father before grabbing hold of Kelly's arm lightly. "Let's go."

Splendid. So, the Olympians had finally noticed that there was something different about Kelly _aside_ from the fact that she was small. There was a reason she had hidden this from people for so long; being a species different to a god often meant that you were their enemy or related to one of their enemies. Being a _new_ species made getting the attention off of you damn near impossible. Not that Kelly was a new species, of course, but her essence made it seem that way due to how it had turned out after her extremely premature birth.

As she followed Hebe out of the throne room, she noted that the complaining from the minor gods had resumed and knew instantly that the only reason Kelly herself had not received more attention was because of the trouble that had spewed from the tracking law. That was alright, she had a habit of _thriving_ in difficult situations and this was nothing short of a complicated one. They went down a corridor and a set of steps that led into the deeper parts of the palace. There couldn't be any rooms down _here_ , it was all used for heating, wasn't it?

"Here we are," said Hebe after a while when they stopped outside a plain white door. "We had a bed moved in a few moments ago."

"How long am I going to be staying here exactly?" asked Kelly.

"Until my father deems otherwise."

"So until he has time to deal with me then," Kelly generalised. "Meaning when the Faction thing blows over which will be in a few decades at least."

Hebe gave a small smile. "They're just curious, is all. A new immortal species is kind of a big deal in the world."

"Well they aren't going to learn anything about it seeing as I don't know who my mother and father are."

"You never met your parents?"

"No, I was abandoned, remember?"

"That doesn't mean you can't meet them."

"It does when you're born asleep," Kelly examined the door. "Is this room fit for pets?"

"Why?" Hebe frowned. "Do you have a lot of them?"

"No, but I have a dog and he doesn't like sleeping anywhere but on my bed so…"

"It's fine then," Hebe turned away to speak to a floating towel. An invisible servant. She turned back to Kelly after a few seconds. "Right, make yourself at home and all that. I'm off to attend to my duties."

"Bye." Kelly opened the door and stepped inside the room.

Well… it could be _worse_ , she supposed.

The room was tiny, and she wasn't joking about that. It was only two metres long and about twice that wide. A perfect rectangle. The ceiling was as high as normal ceilings in a mortal household, which was good, and a tiny window that was right at the top of the wall facing the door let a few rays of light into the cramped space. A bed was pressed up into the left hand corner and took up half of the space on its own despite being a single with plain brown sheets. The floor was cold stone and there was nothing else inside of the room. It looked like an old broom closet. Scratch that, it probably _was_ an old broom closet. As in being used to store brooms less than fifteen minutes ago.

Kelly sighed and closed the door behind her, sitting down on the bed. It was surprisingly comfy and similar to the bed she had back home. Simple. She pulled her arms out behind her and stretched them until she heard a crack as they loosened up fully. The room wasn't all bad, actually, and while it may not have been fit for some grand advisor or king like the ones above it _was_ good for Kelly. Large spaces weren't good places to sleep in her opinion.

She snapped her fingers and Tramp appeared before her, munching on a bone. He looked up at her and cocked his head in surprise.

"What do you think?" She asked him, gesturing around the room. "Good enough to stay in for a while?"

He barked his agreement.

"Works for me," Kelly summoned a bag full of clothes from home and threw it on the bed beside her. "This place needs renovating though. How am I gonna explain this to dad? I don't think mortals who can't see through the mist can even _understand_ situations like this."

Tramp looked at her with his curious brown eyes.

Kelly rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you're no help anyways."

 _Woof!_

She leant back against the wall and pulled out Stingy Steel's old phone and began scrolling through the contents.

"I wonder what else the geyser has on this thing…"

And why hadn't she been forced to wear an ankle tracker yet?


	21. Monster Patrol

Chapter 20- Monster Patrol

Annabeth slashed through yet _another_ monster inside the tunnel. The whole idea of patrolling for monsters had seemed very appealing for someone who was trying to get back into the swing of things until she'd seen just how many monsters there were running around San Francisco. True, Annabeth had always known that there were loads of monsters in the city because of its proximity to the former Titan stronghold but still _this_ was _pushing it._ There had to be at least one hundred monsters all running at the border of the Roman camp and more remained just outside the tunnel waiting until the demi-gods tired so that they could swoop in for the kill.

"Well this is fun!" Jason shouted over the sounds of battle around them.

"You don't say," Annabeth agreed as she cut down a telekhine. "How did these things even get here?"

"Must have a hideout nearby that we missed," Jason impaled a monster with his gladius. "Search parties aren't always one hundred percent effective."

It took a few more minutes to slay the remaining monsters and sort through the ashen piles for weapons they had left behind. Annabeth personally spotted two celestial bronze cannon balls and a pile of barbed wire that had green liquid staining the tips. This was the third monster cell they had destroyed today and her gut told Annabeth that there would be a few more before the day was up. She'd thought about cleaning the monster slime off her sword during their combat lulls but it turned out that the metal Astrid had manufactured was completely immune to monster erosion. That was both a good and a bad thing as the blade would never break but there was nothing to do in her spare time.

"Good haul from this," One of the Roman campers, a legacy of Apollo, commented as he picked up an arrow to examine. "These were much better equipped than the last two groups."

"That's not a good sign," said Jason. "If there were more this could have been a serious problem."

"Good thing there wasn't more then," said Annabeth. "We should take this stuff back to camp. If another group of monsters attacks and we're weighed down by spoils of battle we won't last very long."

"There isn't that much to carry," Jason nudged a sword with the hem of his shoe. "Should only take about four people to take it all back. We'll stay in the camp entrance until they get back so no monsters can pick us off."

They all grabbed shares of the weaponry left behind and took the safest route back to Camp Jupiter. The weight of swords and wooden bows didn't dig into Annabeth's arms due to the four different jumpers she was wearing and the addition of the ski-jacket would have made most people look massive. It didn't happen to Annabeth, though, as her bad eating habits that had surfaced from stress and running round the world had made her much thinner than usual; thinner than it was healthy to be. Amazingly, it seemed living on ready meals and packets of crisps was not a substantial way of life.

"Here you go Lees." Jason handed off his collected weapons to one of the four going into camp.

Annabeth decided to pile hers on top and gave the Roman an apologetic smile; everyone else was already gone so it seemed the poor guy was going to have to take half the share of loot this time.

"Not a bad day," Jason commented when the two were left alone in the tunnel. "We'll have San Francisco clean of monsters at this rate."

"Don't get your hopes up," Annabeth replied. "In this city the monsters reproduce faster than bunny rabbits."

"Well, I can dream I suppose."

They stood in silence for a while as they waited for the rest of the patrol to return so they could resume their hunt around the city. Annabeth found her leg bouncing up and down out of habit and could not remember when it had started to do so. The air had found a way to get through her two pairs of jeans and she immediately regretted not listening to the fashion advice that was so freely provided by certain members of the Street Rat Pack. There had been a lesson on how best to dress for cold weather that involved thermals and certain tracksuit bottoms because of their insulator properties. The practical clothing always went on the outside of your outfit.

Annabeth was busy staring at some graffiti on the tunnel wall when the strangest of feelings overcame her. Her stomach felt mushy and light, like moths had been released inside of it instead of butterflies, and a cold but not cold feeling went from the base of her spine up to the middle of her shoulder blades. It was like a combination of being nervous and fangirling but there was nothing eerily pleasant or bad about it. For some reason, her body had lit up with this feeling and she couldn't place what it was. The back of her head felt tingly and a warm sensation slipped forwards onto her brow. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"What is that?" She asked aloud.

"Huh?" Jason frowned at her. "What is what?"

"I've got this really weird feeling," Annabeth explained, eyes fixed on the ground as her mind focused on the sensation. "I can't really explain it…"

"Like a bad feeling?"

"I don't know," Annabeth frowned. "It's getting worse I think."

"Are you ill?" Jason asked. "Maybe the cold's getting through your clothes."

"No it's just…" Her eyes darted back and forth across the floor before trailing up to the opposite end of the tunnel as the feeling reached its peak and a horrifying realisation breached her mind. "Look out!"

Three cloaked figures shimmered into existence amidst clouds of black smoke a few metres in front of them. Annabeth drew her sword and felt her breathing become harsher as the feeling on her spine turned cold and ran up and down her back. Beside her, Jason hefted his gladius and aimed it at the creatures. A wall of rock rose up behind them and blocked the entrance into Camp Jupiter; Roman guards could be heard scrambling about in confusion on the other side.

"Nowhere to run," A shrill voice hissed from the middle cloaked figure. They raised their silver swords as one and crept forwards with the points aimed forwards at Annabeth's chest. "Your blood will be ours."

Annabeth choked on an inhale. Of course it would be now, when her guard was down and thoughts of the monsters hunting her were far from her mind, that the creatures would strike and have her pay for her oversights. Months of time on the run and in hiding came back to her mind; she should never have left Camp Jupiter. Never should have left the only safe place for hundreds of miles in every direction where her blood was safe and could not be used to end the world. What had she been _thinking?_

"Jason," Annabeth's voice cracked with a sob. "Jason, you have to aim for their hearts and heads. The only way to kill them with demi-god weapons is to aim for those."

"I will," He tried to sound reassuring but there was nothing short of a Street Rat that could make Annabeth comfortable when facing these people. "It'll be okay. Just stay close to me."

The creatures charged and Jason stepped in front of her, intercepting two of them with his gladius and shunting them off to the side where he could take them both on at once. The third went straight for Annabeth and swung at her with inhuman speed, the blade soaring down for her head before being caught and held by Annabeth's own blue bladed sword. She had no idea how she did it but with one hand Annabeth was keeping at bay the godly strength of the creature before her.

Annabeth pushed upwards with her sword and swung at the creatures torso only to have her blade caught with a flurry of sparks. The creature increased the pressure on her sword so that it began to tilt to the right before releasing the sword lock and swiping for her left side. This time, Annabeth was unable to keep pace with him until her sword actually _moved_ for her and dragged her arm along with it, slashing at the opposing weapon and sending it flying. There was little time to feel surprised as Annabeth grasped the hilt with both hands and swung for the monsters chest. This time, she landed a hit and with a sharp cry the best exploded into shreds of black cloth; her sword sparked with purple electricity running down the blade.

The other two creatures shrieked with surprise at the death of their fellow and batted Jason away into the wall which he promptly smashed into and crumbled down seconds later. They took a few steps towards Annabeth but paused when she raised her sword defensively. It seemed that the previously unknown abilities in the magical blade were enough of a threat to deter further advances from the monsters until they were sure of what Annabeth was capable of doing with it. Unfortunately for everyone, Annabeth had no idea that these features existed and would probably kill them all by accident whilst trying to figure out what she was doing.

"What are you?" Annabeth demanded, keeping her sword trained on both figures. "Why didn't you attack before now?"

The creatures hissed in response, making noises like rattlesnakes and crab claws clacking together.

"We are the servants of darkness," One hissed at her. "Loyal shades of old."

"You're shades?" Annabeth asked, trying not to panic as she kept alternating her gaze between them; a two on one scenario was not the best for her. "Why didn't you try and get me before?"

"Your slaying of Sacerdos has garnered our full attention."

"That wasn't me," Annabeth told them. "But if you'd like the name of the one who did it, she's called Astrid. The only child of Hephaestus and Aphrodite- she made the sword I'm holding."

She twitched it slightly in her hand and felt their gazes fall to it once more. Would the power it held be enough to keep the two at bay for just a little bit longer? A plan was beginning to form in her head.

"The gods of Olympus will be dealt with soon enough," The other creature said. "But for now, your blood will raise the Lord of Darkness and his power will raze this world so that a new one may take shape. A world where there is only _power_ and rage."

"Did you just use 'raise' twice in the same sentence?"

Their patience wore out and the creatures swung for Annabeth. She ducked out of the way and backed up towards the rock that blocked Camp Jupiter from her; Annabeth placed both hands on the hilt once again and saw the purple electricity spark into life just as before. Was it only activated when she held it with two hands or something?

Annabeth made a wide swing at both monsters and the purple sparks cracked in the air, forming an electric shockwave that surged towards the creatures and forced them back a few paces. It didn't seem to permanently harm them, however, and Annabeth realised that she would have to land a hit on them for the purple electricity to do its job and kill them. She prepared to swing for the monster closest to her when a loud voice reverberated around the tunnel.

" _Archers! Eiaculare flammas!_ "

A wave of fire tipped arrows soared from the only open end of the tunnel and embedded themselves in the creatures bodies, setting their cloaks aflame and causing them to flail about wildly. Lines of Roman and Greek demi-gods appeared at the end of the tunnel with their bows drawn once again as they prepared for another volley. The creatures shrieked at each other in a language that Annabeth could not understand before a cloud of black smoke appeared around them and they began to disappear; one of them grabbed at Annabeth and caught the sleeve of her jacket.

For a brief, horrifying moment all Annabeth could feel was a squeezing sensation as her throat closed up and her vision went dark. The hand on her arm was freezing and the cold temperature sank through the layers of clothing to torture her skin and Annabeth would have screamed had her voice not been blocked. But then, there was another, warmer hand on her other arm that pulled at her and stopped her from vanishing with the creatures. Purple electricity flared before her vision, cutting through the darkness like a knife and there was a strange dancing of light before her eyes before the cloud of smoke vanished and Annabeth fell backwards against the person who had grabbed her.

"Annabeth!" A chorus of voices were crying that Annabeth could not see; her vision remained full of dancing violet sparks. "Annabeth, say something! Can you hear me? Can you move?"

The sparks began to fade and Annabeth let out a gasping breath as her throat expanded once again, allowing her to breathe freely. There was someone shaking her, someone she was leaning against, and Annabeth coughed for a moment before leaning her head to back to see who it was. The shining blonde hair and light blue eyes met her eyes before anything else and Annabeth briefly thought that it was Jason who had saved her before things came into focus. The hair was longer and braided, with choppy lengths, and it was coloured brown not blonde. Kaleidoscope eyes stared down at her with concern.

"Piper?" Annabeth choked out. "What… what happened? I feel…"

"You're okay," Piper assured. "The smoke got into your lungs a bit but you're fine now. Does anything hurt?"

"Hurt?" Annabeth frowned as she process the words before panicking. "Oh crap! My sleeve! He didn't-"

She pulled back the numerous sleeves on her left arm until her pale skin came into view, her eyes flying across it for any breaks in the flesh with worry. There weren't any that she could see but there might have been some in other places. After all, she had been right inside that smoke cloud and anything could have happened. What if they'd gotten her blood? Her breathing became harsh once again.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Hazel comforted; where had she come from? A group of demi-gods armed with bows lingered at the end of the tunnel tending to Jason's wounds. "It's fine; you're not bleeding."

"I can't believe this," Annabeth muttered to herself as she got to her feet quickly, causing Piper to attempt to pull her back down only to fail. "It happened again."

"Again?" Piper frowned, standing. "Annabeth what-"

"Where's my sword?" Annabeth searched the floor until she found her blue weapon, picking it up and sheathing it. "I'll have to leave. I've got to go."

"Annabeth slow down," Hazel tried to placate her. "You need to rest and relax."

"I need to leave!" Annabeth snapped at her, emotions finally boiling over. "I have to go. If I stay they'll come back and-"

"What are you talking about? You're safest inside Camp Jupiter with us!"

"They'll find a way inside!" Annabeth insisted. "They always find a way inside. And they'll kill more of my friends."

"Annabeth wait-"

"I'm leaving," Annabeth stalked down the tunnel towards its only exit and pushed through the gaggle of watching demi-gods. "Don't follow me."

"Don't follow you?" Piper repeated as she proceeded to do just the opposite. "Annabeth have you lost your mind?"

"Nope. It's never been clearer."

"Then _why_ are you leaving?" The daughter of Aphrodite cried. "You must have lost it if you think it will be any safer out there."

"It'll be safer for all of you," said Annabeth. "And my friends on the outside can't exactly _die_ so-"

"You're going back to those gods?" Piper finally managed to catch up and grabbed Annabeth's right arm, dragging her to a stop. "Annabeth you need to stop and _think_. Who knows what that smoke has done to you? This might be exactly what those guys want! You on the outside of Camp Jupiter without anyone to protect you as you trek all the way across the country to Mount Olympus."

"I don't need to go to-" Annabeth stopped herself. Of course, none of her friends knew about the Street Rat Pack or how many of them there were; it would take only five minutes for Annabeth to track one down and hide with them. "Oh… right. Well, I can always-"

"Nope, you can't," Piper and Hazel blocked the path in front of her. "We're going back to Camp Jupiter and speaking to everyone about what happened and that's final."

Annabeth gave them a blank look. "You do know I could get past the two of you, right?"

"Yeah right, Chase."

Annabeth sighed and ran a hand through her hair. How easy it would be to leave and never come back, to know that all of her friends were safe from death so long as she stayed far away. As always, however, it seemed her friends were too stubborn to realise this and refused to let her go. Even though she could get by and flee into the city, Annabeth did not want to break any more hearts and decided to admit defeat for once.

"Fine," She said grudgingly. "We'll go back. But if this happens again when I am _inside_ the border then I'm leaving. No-one else is going to die because of me."

The two didn't look very happy with that statement but said nothing.

Jason was already in stable condition when they got back to the group and a sizeable hole had been pounded into the rock that blocked Camp Jupiter from them. The face of Tyson grinned out at them and Annabeth did her best to return it; she'd forgotten that the big guy was visiting Percy and Ella today. Rachel Elizabeth Dare's flaming red hair could be seen just behind him and it became obvious that the two had arrived together. The last she'd heard, Rachel was back at a school her parents had chosen for her but seemed to have returned to camp to continue in her efforts at discovering lost prophecies. Whatever had happened to Apollo on Olympus was still unknown but the power of prophecy had vanished completely so they were being forced to make do with the scraps of information they could find.

"Annabeth!" Tyson cried happily upon seeing her; his speech had improved drastically and he sounded like a thirteen year old instead of a ten year old. "You are not dead!"

"Nah," said Annabeth. "Take more than an explosion to kill me."

They all climbed through the hole and met with dozens of fully armed demi-gods on the other side who were expecting a fight. Rachel grabbed Annabeth and pulled her into a hug.

"I almost didn't believe it," Rachel said as she squeezed her friend. "But you're here. You're actually here."

"I must be really good at faking my death if this is your reaction."

"Shut up and hold me."

"I didn't know you were into me like that."

Annabeth laughed as Rachel swatted at her head, ducking out of the way with a cheeky grin. It wasn't friendship if you didn't annoy your friends twenty-four seven.

"We need to speak to Chiron," said Jason as he limped up behind them; Piper and Hazel flanked him. "He needs to know what happened. He might have answers."

"I doubt it," Annabeth mumbled. "No-one knows anything about those creeps."

"You do," Hazel pointed out. "More than anyone else here."

"That's probably because they're trying to kill her, Hazel." Piper muttered.

"We can go speak to Chiron together then," said Rachel. "I need to let him know I'm here anyway."

There was a lot of commotion as they reached the Instructor's Tent that Chiron had set up to continue to train Greek campers. Almost everyone was running back down the hill towards the tunnel to either see what had happened or search for any more monsters. The old centaur was stood just outside the tent in his true form and scanning several scrolls at once that looked like lesson plans or sword coordination.

"Chiron," Rachel greeted. "I'm back."

Chiron looked up from the scrolls and smiled at her. "Good to see you again, my dear. Did you have any luck deciphering the words that Ella wrote down?"

"No not yet but I'm sure we'll get there eventually."

"Chiron," Jason interrupted. "We need to speak to you. Me and Annabeth were just attacked by those hooded figures that took Percy."

Chiron's face turned stony. "Attacked by them? Where?"

"In the tunnel that leads into camp," Jason explained. "They were after Annabeth and her blood."

"Yes I feared as much," The centaur sighed. "You must tell me everything. Come inside."

Once they were seated and had each been given a cup of hot chocolate (Reyna had been at it again it seemed), Annabeth explained what had transpired whilst Jason was unconscious. She recounted how her sword had sparked with purple electricity and killed one of the creatures whilst the other two revealed that they were shades who worked for the 'Lord of Darkness'. The more they talked, the more Chiron's face darkened until he looked as though he had aged several centuries in the space of a few minutes. There had been a similar look on his face when the Roman and Greek camps had collided for the first time in two hundred years.

"This is very disturbing news," He said after the debriefing had finished. "They are willing to come even to the gates of a camp armed for war to get their hands on you."

"That's why I faked my death," said Annabeth. "They won't give up until they have my blood and if nobody knows where I am then neither do they."

Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. "You will have to stay within the camp boundaries," He decided. "More sentries can be placed on the borders but even then it would be best if you stay in the centre where you are easier to defend."

"What?!" Annabeth spat out her hot chocolate. "You want me to stay inside Camp Jupiter?"

"Do you have a better solution to the problem?"

"Yes, actually, I can-"

"She doesn't have a solution," Piper cut across her. "Staying here is the best option. Definitely staying here."

"Yeah and not running across the country in some crazy attempt to save people's lives." Hazel agreed. They both glanced at Annabeth for a moment before looking Chiron square in the eyes with matching smiles of innocence.

Annabeth felt stitched.

"Very well then," Chiron said. "Annabeth you will stay within the borders of Camp Jupiter until these creatures are caught and killed."

"That'll take years!" Annabeth protested. "And you'll never know if we've got them all! I'm not spending the rest of my life _here_."

"Why not?" The centaur frowned. "I thought that was your dream once upon a time."

"Once upon a time I was not being hunted by dozens of shades who are after my blood to raise a primordial that could kill us all."

"That was what Gaia did," Jason pointed out. "She was after your blood _and_ she got it. We're still here."

"Yeah, what's the difference between her and this new guy?" Piper agreed.

"You're generalising," Annabeth groaned. "I would explain but there's no point in trying to make you understand. You always change the subject or make it seem less important than it is."

"We know it's important," said Hazel. "But we don't know why you insist on going it alone."

"I'm won't be alone!"

"Gods are too unpredictable to count on for help." Piper said.

"Oh they're unpredictable alright," Annabeth agreed. "But they're also more loyal than half the people in camp. That's probably why they don't fit in with their families very well."

"I thought you and Sabine fit in together?"

Annabeth blanched. "The day I start acting like Sabine is the day you have permission to take me down and put me in hospital."

"Enough of that," Chiron interrupted. "Annabeth, I need your promise that you will stay within these borders until it is safe for you to leave."

"Well that's not going to happen," Annabeth muttered. "But if it makes you feel better then yeah. I promise."

Chiron's eyes narrowed slightly. "Swear it on the River Styx."

Annabeth snorted. "If there's one thing I learned in my time on the run, it's that you never make oaths that have so many chances to go wrong. I'm sorry Chiron but a promise is the best I can do. If I see someone about to die on the other side of the border I can't just leave them there."

The centaur did not look happy with that and hummed in thought. "You are very different to the girl I trained at Camp Half-Blood."

"Teenage years," Annabeth shrugged. "Anything can happen. I might even take up tap dancing."

And _gods_ did she hate tap dancing.


	22. Street Wise Street Rats

Chapter 21- Street Wise Street Rats

It was a mildly freezing day in Southern England. The sun shone for the maximum amount of time it could stay out in the winter, a grand total of fifteen seconds, and the wind was reaching a hundred mph before midday. Despite this, Kelly and her friends sat outside on a rocky wall by the sea as the spray hit their backs and chatted about literally anything that had happened to them. The story of how Kelly was now 'living' on Olympus in a tiny room took a backseat when faced with tales of a dodgy vending machine that screamed 'stand and deliver!' when touched and the story of a bet that landed Phoebe five hundred quid and Chelsea naked.

"And the girl had no shame whatsoever," Phoebe explained as she flailed her arms about for emphasis. "Literally, she just walked through the hall of two hundred people, grabbed her stuff from the washing machine, and went back before putting it on again. I mean, it's fairly obvious that none of us have any sense of propriety but I still would have expected Chelsea to be squeamish about being naked. She's, like, the _biggest_ Prom Queen in the world!"

"A prom queen who runs a chat line," said Kelly, voice sleek with controlled amusement and authority. "I'd be surprised if that girl had _more_ shame than us. Walking around naked is what she does for a living."

"Bet you won't say that to her face," Phoebe teased, knowing full well that Kelly would do so if provoked. "Hey, what's going on with the Olympians?"

"Any questions like that in our lives, Phoebe, and we're done for."

"No, I mean with this whole 'tagging' thing. We took down an entire faction a few weeks ago and, if anything, the Olympians have made things _worse_ for us. I thought delayed reactions meant that they were thinking things through instead of cocking it up."

"Well it's probably safe to say that the Olympians don't think the way normal people do, Phoebs," Kelly took a sip of her milkshake. "Their king hasn't exactly been sane this past month. He sent Sabine and Astrid back to their mothers despite knowing how tense things were between them and blamed Apollo for the Prophecy of Seven even though it was written in the Sibylline books three thousand years ago."

"And he made you live in the palace just because he was intrigued by your species," Phoebe rolled her eyes. "The man is ridiculous. He didn't even ask if you had a life or anything that you were doing at the time and just ordered it to happen. Not that you _are_ listening to those orders, right Kelly?"

"Me? _Take_ orders?" Kelly smirked. "Never. Besides, no-one's actually watching to make sure I stay put and the Olympians are too busy with their advisors to take notice of anyone but themselves. Sabine set fire to her mother's chair last week and she didn't even find out until two days ago."

"Yeah but that's _Sabine_ ," Phoebe pointed out. "A small fire's gonna be nothing compared to some of the other stuff she does. Her mother probably only cares about big things."

"Can you stop saying things like that before we both get fried?" Kelly joked with a chuckle at the obvious innuendo in the words. She finished her milkshake and chucked it into the nearest bin a second later.

It was strangely peaceful being in such a cold and windy place. The weather would make people from other countries head for the hills but for those who lived in Britain it was actually not that bad. It was certainly much better the further south you were. Aside from that, this was where Kelly had been born and that made the tiny country demand a certain respect from her that was not afforded to other places. That didn't mean they couldn't still tag graffiti and blow stuff up as they pleased, though; Kelly had standards to keep. Ruling chaos was her forte.

The sound of a car engine drew dangerously close and she went tense.

"Hey Kelly," Phoebe's voice was quiet and filled with caution. "We've got company."

A black jeep came to a stop a few feet in front of them and while nobody showed it Kelly could instinctively tell that they were all on edge. She could sense immortals inside of that car and they were not familiar in any way. These were too underpowered to be Olympians which begged a different question. Were they Faction members? The passenger and drivers side doors opened and two well dressed, sunglass wearing men stepped out and looked at the group of teens sat on and beside the wall.

"Hello there," The man from the passenger's side door took off his sunglasses to clean them. He had dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes. "What are you fine young people doing out in a stormy day like this?"

"It's not considered stormy if you're British." Kelly replied, defying everything she had been told about not talking to strangers. Talking was fine. _Trusting_ them, however, was not.

"Well I suppose the British are used to this type of weather by now," The man smiled at them warmly but no-one was convinced by it. "I'm Bellac Fitzhenry. And who might you young people be?"

 _Factions_ , Kelly thought darkly as she recognised the name. This would not end well.

"I'm Jones," Kelly introduced herself, choosing not to use her first name. "This is Oracle. We call her Orc for short."

"You cheeky little…" Phoebe sucked in a breath and steeled her temper. "Yep. That's me."

"Nice to meet you," Bellac turned his attention to the others in the group. "And the rest of you?"

They were hesitant to answer. Out of the four others it seemed that none had a fake name ready to give the newcomer and Kelly knew that some of them had recognised him as a Faction member.

"I'm Kristin," said Hermione, taking the initiative as her friends stumbled over themselves. "This is Simon, Tom and David. You can just call them STD if you want."

"Hey!" Victor protested at the acronym for their fake names. "We're clean, _Kristin_ , even if you won't believe it."

Bellac chuckled. "Alright, alright, settle down now," He locked eyes with Kelly. "Now would you mind telling me what your _real_ names are?"

Everyone went stiff. Eyes glanced about at friends on both sides and gazes turned to Kelly moments later.

"Sorry Fitz," She said. "But we don't do work for the Factions."

"Ah," Bellac nodded his head wisely. "I see. Though I must inform you that we did not come here to recruit members to our cause. It's just, well it's rather embarrassing really, our mainframe was hacked a few months ago and we've only just been told by an informant."

Kelly did not waver in her fake confused stare. There was little this man could do to intimidate her.

"And you see," Bellac continued, hand slipping under the folds of his coat. "My name was on one of those secure sites and you're reaction to it can only mean one thing." He pulled a hand pistol out into the open.

"Get down!" Phoebe shrieked as both she and Kelly tumbled backwards over the wall and hide behind its stony bricks. The other four vaulted over a half-second later as fire rained down upon them.

Dozens of bullets could be felt impacting the surface against their backs and flames flew over their heads but could not bend down to catch the spot where they hid. It seemed that the overly thick walls of Cornwall were good for something other than sitting on. Kelly pulled out her own gun, personally styled and modified to fire a multitude of projectiles (including celestial bronze bullets), and returned fire when the flames died down.

There were more of them now and it seemed that Bellac had sent out a call for backup as a dozen more Faction soldiers appeared before her eyes. Kelly shot off some bullets and caught two plonkers in the shoulder that made them keel over in pain and drop their firearms. She hid behind the cover once more as fire was returned by their comrades.

"Bugger!" Phoebe cursed. "How did they know it was us?!"

"I think their _informant_ was offered a lot of money," Kelly cursed under her breath as a bullet almost clipped her ankle. "I don't believe this. We left no footprint behind on their servers."

"Then how did the informant know about it?"

"Because they were involved," Kelly growled in anger. "It was one of us. A Street Rat sold us out."

"Rubbish," Phoebe shook her head furiously, flinching when the sounds of gunfire being exchanged by their four friends and Faction members became almost deafening. "No-one would betray us. We're family."

"Then we'll get together with those involved and find out who _isn't_ family."

Kelly got back up to shoot over the wall some more and noted with satisfaction that the numbers of Faction henchmen had fallen considerably since the fight had started. She fired off a few more rounds at the remaining soldiers before aiming for the barely exposed top of Bellac's head as he hid behind the jeep whilst reloading. His head flinched out of view as one of the bullets skimmed his hairline and a loud crack filled the air as he teleported away like all of his fellows had done.

The stretch of land went silent once more with only the sound of the wind to fill people's ears.

"Fourteen troops," Victor noted, having counted the number of opposing forces they were facing. "All of them gods. These guys meant business, Kelly."

"Too bad they underestimated us then," said Kelly as she strolled around to the driver's side of the jeep and peered inside. "We'll need to debug this thing if we want to keep it. There's definitely a tracker on the underside."

"We'll do that," Phoebe replied. "But Kelly, I really think you should go back to Olympus."

"They didn't notice the commotion if that's what you're afraid of," Kelly told her. "They'd be down here right now if they had. The only real danger is that there are more Faction supporters nearby."

"Exactly," Phoebe continued. "We can disappear for a while and you go back up there without us so you can sort out the problem, so to speak."

Kelly raised an eyebrow at her. 'Sorting out the problem' was code for discovering how the Faction in question had known about the bug in their mainframe. The hacking skills of Riley and his geeky friends were flawless to say the least and the possibility of there being a traitor was growing higher and higher the more Kelly thought about it. Hardly anyone knew about the bugs on Faction servers, they knew the Street Rats were getting _information_ somehow but they did not know exactly how it was done. It could only have been someone who was involved or informed about the situation. Given how much gossip went on in their pack and Kelly's presence being temporarily relocated it could take a while to track down the culprit.

"I'll deal with it," Kelly said. "Take off any mics and cameras you find and push the jeep into a workshop we don't own. Don't try to hotwire it until it's been stripped down and remove the body so you can search everywhere beneath it."

"Yes Kelly, we know," Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Now get going."

There was one last exchange of smirks between the two friends before Kelly vanished in a swirl of white light. She'd always preferred the more flashy ways out of things. A second later she rematerialized inside a small tunnel that was part of a network of spaces beneath Mount Olympus used by the hundreds of servants and handmaidens. This was the only way they could get around without interfering in their masters' lives and, since Kelly had been given a room right at the bottom of the palace, they had not been shy about sharing the locations of these tunnels with her. To them, Kelly was just a tiny goddess who had no real importance and would probably end up a servant like them anyway.

How wrong they were.

Kelly had spent most of her spare time exploring the tunnels and found some places that even the servants were unaware of. She had not found everything, of course, since the complex was _huge_ and its magical walls meant that it could stretch on forever without looking any bigger on the outside. It reminded her of the Labyrinth only you could actually navigate through this one and the walls didn't close in on you unexpectedly. At least, that was what it was like for Kelly. It might have been different for those who were less skilled in the art of stealth and mischief making.

This time, Kelly decided to take a different route back up to her room and glanced around the tunnel she had teleported into for a better look. The walls were made of faded stone and had various grates and grooves that made them slightly reminiscent of a sewer. She hoped she never found the sewer used by Olympus. There was a tiny opening in the wall to her right where a hole about a half metre wide in each direction had been crated into the centre. A small slope led up to it but the dust and moss was enough to convince her that no-one had been inside of it for a very long time.

She crawled inside of it and made her way along the narrow tube as she thought about the possibility of a traitor. There was only one way to find out, of course, but it was still incredibly worrying for someone to actually _betray_ the Street Rat Pack. As if it wasn't enough that their parents had shunted them around, they now had someone within their own ranks attempting to kill them off. The fact that the Faction had come after Kelly, the head of the pack, was even more disturbing.

There were small holes in the top of the tunnel and it reminded Kelly of a ventilation shaft which was unnecessary since the entire mountain was open to the sky. Every time she passed one of these holes she could hear voices which was something she had noticed about other tunnels as well. They made the perfect place for eavesdropping and spying on people. Kelly paused every now and again to listen to them.

"But I love you!" A man was wailing.

A woman harrumphed. "Not as much as the god Apollo. Leave me be before I call him over to deal with you right now!"

Kelly smirked and kept crawling. More than half of the conversations she came across were about the Olympians and their many conquests with nymphs and other immortals. That was probably where so many of the Street Rat Pack had come from actually. Three hundred gods didn't just show up out of thin air and the fact that most were descended from Olympians was a very clear sign that the old duffs were having trouble keeping it in their trousers.

She kept going until she came to a crossroads in the small space, which was surprising, and debated which way to go. Her room was in the palace so she should probably go left…

"I'm telling you we won't be able to pull it off." A nervous voice whispered from somewhere to her right.

Kelly frowned and crawled towards it in interest. A small grating revealed two men standing beside one of the many fountains and attempting to blend in with everyone else. It was a pathetic attempt, really. Kelly could instantly tell that they were up to no good just by looking at them. It was a skill that had proved itself priceless over the years.

"Will you relax," The man wearing a white toga and Nike trainers hissed. "You'll blow the whole operation with your rambling. This plan is too good for you to mess up."

"I'm sorry," The nervous man took a deep breath to calm himself. "It's just weird, you know? Being involved in taking down an Olympian wasn't something I'd ever imagined doing. I'd dreamt of it, of course, but never thought my wish could come true."

"You should be thankful to the master for making it possible," The second man said. "Now, is everything in place?"

"Of course. The moment Wisdom takes her daily steps towards the library our forces will cast the disabling spell and she will be rendered powerless."

 _Wisdom_ , Kelly thought. _That's Athena._

"Good. But she must be alone when the spell is cast; the power needed to disable the magic of an Olympian must be focused solely on her or it will fail."

A petal fell from a nearby flower.

"What about the demi-gods?" The first man asked. "I thought the master was going to have the blood of Olympus by now."

"A minor setback," The second man waved a hand dismissively. "There's another assault tonight. The fools are keeping the girl inside their Pomerian line."

"What? No weapons are allowed inside that line. She will not have the sword to defend herself!"

"Exactly," The second man twisted his face into an ugly feature, his attempt at a smile. "We shall have her by morning. Now it's just the case of us doing our jobs and the shades doing theirs."

The faint breeze on Olympus began to blow a little stronger and a crowd of people, fresh from a concert by the Muses, spilled out into the courtyard and walked towards the fountain. The two men stood up straight and began to move away from each other.

"Get it done," The second man reiterated. "Or we're both toast, understand? Take out Wisdom and the Olympians fall.

The two men bustled off in different directions and the view from the grating was blocked as the crowd of people stood in front of it as they sat on the edge of the fountain. Kelly backed up slightly and glanced down the left side of the tunnel.

Sabine was in her house at the moment and Kelly knew that the tunnels led there as they did to everywhere else on Olympus. But which way was it? The mansion where Athena lived was next to the palace as, being her father's favourite daughter, Zeus liked to have her close by for advice and strategies for battle.

Kelly crawled down the left tunnel at a much faster speed than before. She had to find Sabine and tell her that her mother was in danger, then call some members of the pack who could protect Annabeth without looking too conspicuous whilst doing it. She scurried through the tunnels, front scraping against the ground as the space became tighter and harder to move in, and mentally deduced which way she would have to go to reach Sabine.

She took a few rights, doubled back when she met a dead end and ran through an open chamber with seventeen different exits before coming to a narrow space with a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. It really _did_ look like the entrance/exit of a sewer but it clearly led elsewhere. Kelly could sense Sabine right about her and climbed the rusted ladder as quickly and carefully as possible before pushing the manhole cover up.

The 'manhole cover' was actually a huge marble slap that had been stuck down onto an eroded stone block to make it less obvious as to where it led. Kelly stuck her head up to look around and saw that she had come into one of the main rooms of the mansion; it had marble columns and a wide open space where temple sacrifices arrived every few seconds. Why would Sabine be here you ask? Kelly spotted her spray painting on one of the columns.

"Sabine," Kelly whisper-shouted. "Sabine, come here!"

The girl started in surprise and whirled around, clearly thinking she had been caught, only to grin at the sight of Kelly.

"Hi Kel," She greeted before frowning and looking her up and down. "How did you get up through the floor?"

"Not important," said Kelly. "I've got some news about your mother."

"Mum?"

"Yeah. Listen, those people who were after Annabeth have launched a plan to strip your Mum of her magic and capture her."

"What?" Sabine went wide eyed. "How do you know?"

"Eavesdropping," Kelly shrugged. "They're going to strike when she's alone in the library. Apparently the spell only works when she's on her own."

"Well she won't be alone for long," Sabine stood up straight like a soldier. "I can come up with a reason for being in the library like _that_."

"You're gonna need more than that if the spell works _every time_ she's alone."

"Oh yeah," Sabine frowned. "I'll get on it and find a way to stop that. Can you catch the guys doing it?"

"Not yet," Kelly replied. "I have to make sure you're sister doesn't die tonight."

"Annabeth? They're going to try and get her again?"

"Yep. Can you stay with your mother until I get back?"

"I can stay with that woman when she threatens me with her Aegis," said Sabine. "Good luck, Kel."

"You too."

Kelly slid back down the ladder and pulled the stone back into position as she went. Now she only had to find a way inside the Pomerian line at Camp Jupiter without alerting Terminus and catch the shades before they got inside themselves.

It was time Annabeth came home.


	23. Homecoming

Chapter 22- Homecoming

Annabeth was glad she didn't make oaths anymore.

When Chiron had told her that she would be sleeping inside the city of New Rome, by which he meant inside the Pomerian line, Annabeth had almost flipped her lid. There were no weapons allowed inside the city and it was only Annabeth's sword that had the ability to slay the shades that plagued her. How was she supposed to defend herself when she was weaponless? The old centaur put too much faith in Terminus' abilities and Annabeth found herself completely unable to sleep that night. It was two o'clock in the morning and almost everyone, save the sentries that lined the border, had gone to bed which meant Annabeth was left to wander the barren streets with only the lights from street lamps to guide her.

It was in this moment that Annabeth tried to make sense of the many emotions running through her heart. She felt trapped, alone and scrutinised. Nobody seemed to understand that the only way to escape these people was to outrun them. There were moments in life when there was nothing you could do, when the weight of the world came crashing down and other people took control of what was rightfully yours. Moments when you couldn't turn things around and the only way out was to run as fast and as far as you possibly could.

That was what Sabine had told her running away from their mother's house felt like.

And what Annabeth wanted to do know.

Run.

She loved her friends and being back at Camp Jupiter had been such a thrilling reminder of the past but it was all dampened by the fact that people were messing things up for her. Who knew the most about the shades? Annabeth. It made sense, then, that she should be the one allowed the most opinion in decisions regarding her own safety and ways of dealing with the creatures. But _no_. People had to treat her like she didn't know better because she had run away from Camp Half-Blood at the first sign of the monsters and her first response to seeing them at Camp Jupiter had been to run away again. That didn't mean she was _stupid_ , it just meant that she knew the most effective way to keep everyone safe.

It was times like this that Annabeth wanted to find those responsible for all her woes and crush them. Things would be so much different if these people never showed up and if she could just find out where they were hiding then she could find ways to take them out and the problem would be over and done with. She couldn't help but wonder if that was what the shades were thinking about her.

It seemed fitting, then, that at this moment she would be ambushed by several cloaked figures wielding familiar silver swords. The shades had not only returned in numbers but they also had the element of surprise on their side.

"Die!" One of them hissed as it charged her down with it's sword aloft.

Annabeth turned and ran back the way she came, all the way up the street and towards the Pomerian line as fire chased her from behind. A line of flames blocked her path once she got close enough to Terminus' stand and children could be heard crying from inside their homes. The fire could undoubtedly be seen from within people's houses but there was no way anyone was getting out. The shades had blocked every entrance and exit to Annabeth's position and smoke began to fill her lungs. She coughed and attempted to shield her eyes from it.

"No fighting your way out of this one, Chase," A shade, a foot taller than the others, stepped forward. He wore a helmet of gleaming silver on his head that had a blank face carved into it and black spikes sticking out. "You belong to the Lord of Darkness now."

The head shade raised it's sword and Annabeth clenched her eyes shut, ready for the end of everything she knew when a car horn broke through the sounds of fire and screaming. Was that… the theme of Mission Impossible?

The car materialised out of thin air and crashed its way through the line of flames, knocking into the shades with a power slide that sent them sprawling. A familiar face with light brown hair and a cheeky grin ducked out the window.

"Hey Annie," Newt greeted. "How's it going?"

"Newt?" Annabeth exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought that was obvious," He frowned at her before glancing back at the shades who were getting to their feet. He turned back to someone in the driver's seat. "Oi, back it up would ya? Those things are getting up!"

The car reversed over the bodies of the shades who shrieked in pain and anger.

"Get in the bloody car!" Newt cursed. "These things don't die easily!"

Annabeth rushed up to the side of the car and wrenched open the door before pausing.

"Wait, my sword!"

"We have it, now _get in!_ "

She got in the car. It was a Mini Cooper and not at all like the one that they had used to bring down Thranta Faction; Annabeth supposed that most gods would have their own cars regardless of how wealthy they were. Cars were made by mortals and mortals could be tricked as easily as Annabeth could eat a bar of chocolate. That is to say, in five seconds or less.

"Drive, Benji, drive!" Newt yelled at the driver as the door slammed shut.

The car sped away through the wall of flames and bolted through the Pomerian line. The statue of Terminus could be heard screaming loudly at them before turning his attention to the shades that were flanking him. Demi-gods were charging up the paths now and it was a miracle they didn't run any of them over. Some caught sight of Annabeth's face and gaped at her as the car flew past. They drove through a field and Annabeth spotted her friends scrambling about to face the threat inside New Rome. She stuck her head out the window.

"Bye guys!" Annabeth shouted at the rest of the seven who spun around and stared at her, mouths open wide. "See you next summer!"

She laughed uncontrollably as she got back inside the car and rolled the window up. There was a such a rush of exhilaration and pure joy running through her that it was impossible for Annabeth to stop grinning. This was almost unbelievable- she was _free_. True, the shades would still be after her but that didn't matter anymore. She was going home.

They burst through the tunnel leading to the city and tore up the roads to the freeway. Cars honked their horns and sirens blared around them but nothing could catch up with the mad getaway driving of a god.

"What is it with you guys and dramatic entrances?" Annabeth asked through tears of laughter.

"You don't know?" Newt laughed with her. "For a Street Rat, there is only one way to do things. It's _all_ or _nothing_."

"So you just go all out with everything then?" Annabeth smirked.

"Go high or go home, my friend."

The police sirens stopped suddenly, some godly trick, and time seemed to warp around the exterior of the car. Vehicles around them froze in place and jostled about slightly, fading into silhouettes and shaking about in Annabeth's vision.

She wiped her eyes, certain she was seeing things, and when she looked up again they were in a completely different place. A place with trees and acres of fields in every direction. A single road ran up through the fields towards a large building in the centre.

"What the…" Annabeth rubbed her eyes and looked around some more. "Where are we?"

"Home," said Newt. "Where all Street Rats roam."

"Is that some kind of running joke?"

"No," Newt turned around and grinned at her. "This is where every member of the Street Rat Pack lives. And now it's where you live too."

"But… I thought _street rats_ lived on the streets? That's what we were doing before Christmas, wasn't it?"

"Nah, that's just us exploring the world and having a blast," Newt shrugged. "This is home, though. All this space is ours to do as we please in."

"Like a magical pocket?"

"Kind of. Only our borders don't separate us from the earth and things are a lot more chaotic the further in you get. You'll see."

They drove up the road and Annabeth spotted dozens of things in the fields that probably shouldn't have been there. A collection of vending machines all piled on top of each another in a pyramid, a huge pile of junk that had been fenced off with the words 'Lair of the EcoCentrics' written on a banner in bright green paint, an obstacle course that looked like it had been blown up a million times and a farm that spanned the entire portion of one field. There were no marks on it which was a fairly obvious indicator that it was needed; food was always very important regardless of what species you were. A waterfall ran down a hill and into a small lake which ran into an even bigger one that acted as a harbour of sorts with ships from all eras, shapes and sizes sitting in it.

"Holy…" Annabeth muttered, jaw dropping as she continued to look around at all the things dotting the landscape.

A building had been carved into a cliff face which made it look like something out of Lord of the Rings and a massive paintballing arena almost thirty acres wide sat at the bottom with smoke pooling out of one end. There was a dense forest on one side that had a huge treehouse growing out the top and a group of girls dressed in commando gear could be seen lurking around the edges armed with Nerf guns and baseball bats. What little bit of the ground had been concreted over was home to dozens of cars and vehicles that were owned by those who lived there. Annabeth blanched at the sight of three tanks sitting side by side and a Titan plane chilling in its own little area. How had they landed that here?

"How big is this place?" Annabeth questioned with wonder.

"A little over five hundred miles," Newt answered. "If the Olympians can survive together with hundreds of other immortals on a mountain only a few miles in each direction, then their rowdiest children can survive in a space this big. Although, we have been thinking about adding a rally cross track…"

"Rally cross?"

"Yeah, for the younger kids, you know? They're not allowed out into the world until they turn thirteen so we have to find ways to keep them entertained and out of the weapons cupboard."

"Is that why the paintball field got blown up?"

"Paintball?" Newt frowned and looked out the window. "Oh that. That's where we fight each other for sport and beat the stuffing out of people who think they're hard. You should try it sometime- but make sure the healers are on duty before you do. Some of the kids in there can be pretty vicious. It's probably safer if you stay in the sections used by all the older Street Rats until you learn the tricks of the trade and so on."

They pulled up to the parking lot and got out the car. Annabeth noticed that the air smelled just as fresh and clean as it had in Astrid's magical pocket.

"Well, here we are," said Newt, gesturing around at the landscape around him. "What do you think? A home away from homes?"

"Definitely," said Annabeth. "This is the coolest place I've ever been. Do you live here all the time?"

"Yep, and nobody can get in unless we say so. The stealth enchantments around the edges also stop people from knowing where any of us are so you won't have to worry about those shades anymore."

"Cool."

Annabeth couldn't keep the grin off her face. She was back with the friends she loved and nobody was trying to keep her in a cage for her own 'safety'. The rules were that if you were older than thirteen, and not impeded by an injury that made people step back and go 'whoa', you could leave which meant Annabeth could go and do as she pleased. This was what she had wanted all along; a place where she belonged.

A home.

Maybe… maybe some of her friends from Camp Jupiter could stay with her too. Friends like Piper and Leo; Calypso might like to live in a place like this where everyone was immortal. Who knows? It could make the daughter of Atlas happy to be around those who were just like her. Well, just like how she had been before. Talking with people and being a part of group events always brought a smile to Calypso's face and it was clear that isolation had not agreed with her.

"Let's go upstairs to the girl's dormitory. Kelly said to put you on the seventh floor with all the other older girls."

"Kelly?" Annabeth frowned. "How does she know I'm here? We just arrived."

"Well, she's the one who sent us to get you."

"How did she know the shades were attacking me?"

"She won't give the exact details, as per usual, but it had something to do with eavesdropping. It must have been a pretty explicit conversation considering she knew that you were going to be in trouble hours in advance."

"Hours?" Annabeth repeated. "Why didn't she tell me?"

"Sometimes the only way to keep someone safe is to keep them in the dark," said Newt. "This way. We'll take the stairs since the elevator had a bomb detonated in it last week."

They made their way up the many flights of stairs in the large building. It was about the size of a castle, only castles in America were not this big, and Annabeth decided to rate it's size at ten forts wide and twenty high. That made much more sense.

Teenagers and children alike could be seen running wild throughout the building as they acted out fake duels, shot each other with slingshots and grabbed extra batteries for their controllers so they could live up to their reputations as gamers. The walls were tagged with graffiti every now and again but there was nothing too bad up there and the windows had all been opened to allow air to vent out the body odour of so many pubescent youths and to throw those who offended the wrong people or stunk too much into the ponds below.

Some people waved to Newt as they passed, others gave Annabeth curious looks and some were so engrossed in their tasks that the slightest noise seemed to upset them. Considering how loud all the yelling and running about was, Annabeth felt it completely unfair for them to glare at her for asking Newt how many people stayed in the house permanently. If they wanted to do their thing then they should do it in their space; unless they had one of those parents who entered the room without knocking and didn't close the door when they left. That might be the reason they all ran away.

"Here we are," Newt announced as they reached a door on the seventh floor. He knocked on the door. "Oi, Chelsea! Open the door you've got a new roomie!"

The sounds of people talking faltered for a moment as one of them made their way towards the door. It opened to reveal a girl with curly blonde hair and a ton of make up in her arms. Annabeth felt like jumping out of a window and making her escape for the second time today- they were _not_ putting her in a room with a beauty queen.

"A new one?" The girl, Chelsea, questioned looking Annabeth up and down.

"Not quite. She's been part of the pack for a few months but lived somewhere else until now." Newt explained.

"If she lived somewhere else then why did she come here?"

"Same reason we all did." Newt answered darkly, a shadowy look crossing his face.

Chelsea pursed her lips and a look of understanding passed between the two of them.

"Alright then," said Chelsea after a moment of silence; she turned to Annabeth. "I'm Chelsea. Who are you?"

"Annabeth Chase."

"Oh a demi-god," Chelsea nodded approvingly. "Very nice. Come in, come in."

Annabeth shuffled through the doorway and glanced around at the dormitory. There were more than a dozen beds on both sides at the room, all lined up with chests of drawers or sheets blocking them from being right up against each other. There were laptops all around and game chairs dotted the empty spaces at the end of the room. The windows all had curtains and the carpet was dark blue. Annabeth spotted several gaming systems and controllers in various locations and an entire corner of the room had been sectioned off where hundreds of beauty products and dresses lay.

It seemed the other occupants of the room enjoyed 'beautifying' themselves about as much as Annabeth did. They'd actually separated their stuff from that of the girls who spent all their time applying makeup.

"So you're the one Kelly told us to save a space for," Chelsea mused as she carefully placed all of her products down onto the vanity. "Is it true you're Sabine's older sister?"

"Yeah." Annabeth shifted about restlessly; those conditioners stunk. That was probably why several fans were pointed towards this section of the room.

"And now the two of you are the last children of Athena?"

"Yes, the rest are all dead now."

Chelsea hummed in thought. "Dead demi-gods. I must have heard things like that over a thousand times in the past month. It's one of those natural things."

Annabeth glared. "There's nothing natural about burning to death inside a cabin."

"Oh, please, half-bloods burning to death is one of the most common-"

"Chelsea," A voice from the door interrupted. "Shut up and go host your chat line. That wealthy customer from Tokyo's calling."

"Again? That's the fifth time today!" Chelsea bustled off through the door and Annabeth turned to look at the newcomer.

It was a girl, who looked around sixteen, with brown hair and matching eyes. A twinkling grin was plastered on her face as Annabeth took in the familiar features.

"Phoebe?"

"That's me," The girl walked over and slapped Annabeth softly on the shoulder. "How was the jail break? You didn't lose any limbs from what I can tell."

"No, I didn't lose any limbs," Annabeth grinned. "I didn't even get hurt, actually. Newt showed up before anything could happen and the only real problem was the flames but we drove straight through those."

"Looks like our community safety driving courses are paying off," Phoebe noted. "You're seventeen, right? You can take them too."

"I don't have a car."

"You don't need one."

Annabeth frowned. "How am I supposed to take a driving course without a car?"

"You'll see," Phoebe grinned some more. "What do you think of the dormitory? Ignore the space where the slappers sleep we quarantine them for everyone's safety."

"It's good," Annabeth smiled. "Much better than any place I've been to before. Except maybe the room I have at Astrid's but that's because I had Sabine with me."

"You find life _better_ with Sabine?" Phoebe mock cried but there was a smile upon her lips. "Now that's family commitment if I ever saw it."

"I'm able to commit to long relationships."

"I'll bet you are," Phoebe laughed. "Want to play Thief? Polly just bought a gaming computer and it is _epic_."

"Sure but… I've never played PC games before."

"Well then, welcome to the master race."


	24. Poseidon's Firstborn

Chapter 23- Poseidon's Firstborn

Astrid was not sure what her mother's definition of a 'good day out' was. When the goddess of love had come into her workshop/bedroom and announced that all of the family who weren't busy that day were going to Australia to relax and unwind, Astrid's first thought had been a swear word. A day spent with her many half-siblings who did not like her because she was a freak of nature who had been born from two gods who had absolutely nothing in common. What could possibly go wrong?

"Don't you have stuff to do today?" Astrid asked her mother as everyone started running around the beach looking for places to sit down that weren't covered in seaweed. "I thought the job of an Olympian gave no breaks."

"That's the beauty of not having a conscience my dear," said Aphrodite. "We can be doing our jobs with half of our essence and the rest can be enjoying a relaxing day on the beach."

"Where all your children gang up on one who doesn't quite fit in and try to find a way past her immortality," Astrid said gloomily. "You've sealed my death, woman."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic. You sound like your father."

"Funny. He said I sound like you."

Aphrodite sighed and ran a hand over her eyes. "Just go sit down and enjoy yourself, please? The whole point of a relaxing day is that I don't hear anything about that man."

"You were the one who brung it up in the first place!"

" _Sit down_."

Astrid groaned and trudged off to a stop a good distance from the others before sitting down on the sand. It was much hotter in Australia than it was in America because the seasons in Australia meant that summer and spring were when autumn and winter were in the west. The heat didn't matter to a god of fire, obviously, but the sunny day and deep blue skies were very beautiful and the fact that more than half of her mother's children had been unable to attend the trip with them made the day that much better. The only people who had come were Eros, who never left their mother's side, Priapos (god of garden fertility) and Iakkhos (god of Eleusinian mysteries) who Astrid wasn't sure needed to be around anymore since the Greek city he represented was pretty much gone now.

They were all boys, to her despair, but only Eros was a child of Ares and he was the only one who didn't try to kill her at every turn so the day should be bearable at least. It had to be better than the time she had let her father take her out for a trip to one of his forges with some of _his_ children.

They'd pushed her into a pool of lava hoping that she would be permanently disfigured for the rest of her life.

Hephaestus had decided to call off any further meetings between him and Astrid unless he could guarantee none of his other children would be present.

Astrid pulled her iPad out of her bag and got ready to spend the next few hours working on a new design and dodging her mother's questions about how life was going when she heard the faint sound of a bell by her ear. She glanced around for the source of the noise but found nothing, turning back to the screen of her iPad and stopping dead. A tiny crab was sat on it and staring at her.

" _Sup,"_ It spoke into her mind. _"Would you mind following me, my lady? My captain is in a bit of a sticky situation."_

"Uh…" Astrid stared at it for a few moments. "Okay."

The crab jumped off her iPad and scuttled off towards a cave on the other side of the beach. Astrid got to her feet and stuffed her iPad into her bag.

"Darling," Her mother's voice stopped her. "Where are you going?"

"To explore the really creepy and dangerous looking cave." Astrid replied.

"May I ask why?"

"The crab told me to."

"Oh…" Aphrodite didn't seem to know whether to look confused or deeply concerned. "Well then… have fun."

"Thanks."

Astrid blatantly ignored the stares she got from her family on the beach and followed the small trail created by the six legs of the crab. The cave it had scuttled off to was made out of dark rocks and stood out from the lighter stones of the cliff. The sand inside the entrance was wet and when Astrid stood on it her footprints were indented into the ground. Water dropped down from the ceiling and a small space on the other side of the cave shone light through that didn't illuminate very much but made it very obvious as to where Astrid was supposed to go.

She slowly made her way through the small cave, making sure she didn't trip over anything, and ducked down to avoid hitting her head as she climbed up through the hole the light was shining through. It seemed the cave had one entrance that you could walk through and another that you had to climb through. She came out to find a beach that was almost identical to the one her mother was sat on but the sea was a clearer blue here, the sand whiter and a dense forest of trees blocked any view further inland.

" _This way,"_ The crab said as it appeared by her shoe. _"Up to the Roamer's decks."_

Astrid looked up from the crab and her mouth dropped open. There, marooned on the beach, was a huge ship from the 1700s with three masts and pure white sails. Its hull was shredded open with the wood all splintered and cracked and the rudder was completely destroyed. It was safe to say that the ship had been through some rough times recently.

"Whoa," said Astrid. " _That's_ your ship?"

" _Not mine, no,"_ The crab replied. _"The captain is a friend and sent me out to look for help. Their mechanic just passed away, you see. Something about playing dodgy poker with a son of Mars."_

"Don't say the names too much," Astrid advised. "They might see your ship and _he_ hates me enough already."

" _Sorry. A habit I picked up from the captain; she is able to use their names indiscriminately and never get caught."_

"Sounds like people I know." Astrid mused. It had better not be a Street Rat on board that ship; it was hard enough keeping them a secret from her probing mother without stunts like this.

They made their way towards the broken ship and Astrid found that she could see people working on deck to fix any problems they found. There didn't seem to be a great deal of progress being made as something exploded below decks just as she got within five metres of the thing. Clearly none of them knew a thing about ship maintenance. Some of the crew members poked their heads over the railing when they sensed Astrid's presence.

"Ahoy!" One of them shouted before they all turned and bustled off in different directions. A ladder dropped down right in front of Astrid. "Come on up, matey!"

 _Pirates_ , Astrid thought with a sigh. _What a 'relaxing day out' this will be._

She put her foot on the first rung and began to climb. The crab walked up the side of the swinging rope with ease.

" _Come, come,"_ It hurried her. _"The captain awaits thee."_

"What captain?" Astrid grumbled to herself as she climbed.

When she got to the top she could see what the deck looked like and how bad the damage to it was. Everything was made of wood and metal, old school style, and most of that was splintered or bent at ugly angles. There were unmistakable signs of canon fire and what remaining weapons were onboard had been shoddily repaired. An electrical circuit, one of the only modern things about the ship, was exposed and wires ran all around the place with tears in them and sparks flying about.

It was like Sabine had been unleashed on the ship after twelve cans of Red Bull.

That drink was banned for a _reason_.

"Alright there, girl?" A crew member grinned at her. "The captain's waiting for you at the helm. She's the woman with the murderous glare who hates mayonnaise."

"Shut up, you arse!" A voice from the helm shouted. "I will maroon you on a desert island and _not_ come back for you this time. I mean it!"

"Up you go," The crewmember grinned.

Astrid walked up the stairs to the helm, and the steering wheel, to find the captain who hated mayonnaise. She was a woman who looked about twenty-two years old, with long red hair and intense sea green eyes that stood out against her fair skin. She wore a light brown trench coat and had many effects containing a cutlass and two pistols strapped to her waist.

"So," The woman greeted as she laid eyes upon Astrid. "You're the daughter of Hephaestus and Aphrodite that everyone's talking about."

"Everyone?" Astrid frowned. "I thought the insults only came from people my Mum has slept with and the children she had as a result."

"What?" The woman shook her head. "No, no, people aren't insulting you. They think you're a brilliant blacksmith, like your father. That bit of work you did when you crafted a sword for Annabeth Chase has garnered a lot of attention. I'll doubt your mother told you that, though; the Olympians aren't being too kind to other god's egos at the moment."

"That doesn't enflame my ego," said Astrid. "It'd probably make me feel better, actually, coming from my mother. They should really try different tactics to take down the Factions."

"You don't say," The woman rolled her eyes. "Stupid Dad. _Tagging_ I ask you."

"Your Dad's an Olympian?"

"Yeah, Poseidon. I haven't seen him in a while, though, and being absent for over three thousand years kind of puts a strain on the relationship."

"Over three thousand years?" Astrid repeated. "How did you manage that? You must be one of his early children."

" _Early_ children?" The woman snorted. "I'm his earliest child. Firstborn and all that. But that's beside the point."

"You're the firstborn child of Poseidon?"

"Yes, now pay attention. As you can see, my ship has been damaged in an attack and we are ill suited to repair it. We have the materials, of course, but do not know how to use them. I'm no mechanic and you're the best for miles. Will you help us out?"

"Um… sure, but… you're telling me you're _really_ the firstborn child of Poseidon?"

"For the love of…" The woman face palmed so hard that Astrid winced at the sound of it. " _Yes_ , I am the firstborn. My name is Anthea but my friends call me Ariel because they watch the Little Mermaid too much and are prats."

"I'm Astrid. Nice to meet you Ariel."

"I swear to every god-"

"Yeah whatever, I have repairs to make."

Astrid bustled off with a grin. Taking the mick out of people was what she lived for… and Anthea really _did_ look like that character from the Little Mermaid. Minus the tail of course, the woman didn't look like she'd spent a day beneath the waves so a tail was out of the question.

It took a minute or so for Astrid to find someone to tell her exactly where to find the materials to repair stuff. She'd introduced herself as 'Ariel's BFF' and the crew member looked like he was about to crap himself in either fear or amusement. After that, Astrid spent most of the day running about on deck as she repaired the hull and masts and laid out instructions for lowering the sails so they could be stitched together again. More than once she was forced to bonk a crewmember on the head for making a stupid decision and even confiscated a work tool off of one just so she could throw it at him and pronounce him a spanner. He really was very stupid that guy.

She used her pyrokinesis to weld things together and a series of pulleys helped to lift everything into place when Astrid could not be bothered to use her godly strength to do so. Sure, it would have been simpler but it also would have taken longer as being a perfectionist was a taxing lifestyle. Nothing was ever good enough and if something was even a centimetre out of line you would notice immediately; not all that different to certain forms of OCD.

Astrid ran back to the beach where her mother was sat multiple times to prevent the Olympian from coming to look for her and to make it seem like she hadn't just wandered off and wasn't coming back. She also needed her backpack because it had her iPad in it and that was where she kept all her information on designs and how best to mend a ship. The 4G it had was especially helpful when they needed the internet for something.

Eventually, everything was back into a condition where the crewmembers could fix it and the sun was beginning to set which meant Astrid had to get back to her mother.

"See ya around," Ariel waved goodbye as Astrid began to trek back to the beach. "Don't go blowtorching any decent people, keep out of the Olympians' complaint list and do something about the smell of your clothes."

"Goodbye Ariel." Astrid said in reply, delighted when she saw the older woman's jaw clench in irritation at the nickname. You couldn't claim to be a good friend if you didn't take the mick every second of every day.

When Astrid got back to the beach her mother had decided to relax on, she was surprised to see the woman standing upright and looking extremely annoyed at the sight of her. Had she done something wrong? Or perhaps the realisation that Astrid was a constant reminder of Hephaestus had finally hit the woman full in the face?

"Where were you?" Aphrodite asked with a scowl.

"Exploring," Astrid shrugged. "I told you where I was going, didn't I?"

"Yes but you didn't tell me what time you were getting back," Aphrodite scowled some more. "I didn't expect to look to my side and see you were missing."

"I came back six times to tell you I was okay."

"But you didn't come back again!"

"I'm a goddess."

"Irrelevant! We're going home; the sun's beginning to set."

"I can see that," Astrid gave her mother a curious look. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"I am allowed to worry on some occasions, my dear."

"Not about me," Astrid protested. " _Never_ about me."

"I'm a mother! Just because I don't _show_ a particular emotion on my face doesn't mean I don't feel it and develop new feelings as I go which I can then take out on you."

"Then how am I supposed to know if you're upset?"

"You're a goddess. Figure it out. Boys!" The three gods who were lounging in the evening sun looked up at her. "We're going back to Olympus."

"But I got a perfect spot for my suntan!" Iakkhos protested.

" _Now._ "

They all got to their feet.

Astrid looked up at the sky and watched the fading light of the sun and the colours that danced in the air as she began to drift off into thought. What Ariel had said about her father… could that have happened to Astrid? Would she have spent three thousand years away from her parents if not forced to return? Or would she cave at some point and decide to make peace with her mother? It was mildly disturbing to learn that someone who seemed so nice and warm had strayed from their father for most of _eternity_ for a reason that was being kept secret. From what she'd heard, Poseidon seemed like a nice enough guy who wasn't as aggressive or easy to anger as the other Olympians. Maybe he hadn't been like that in the past? She did not know.

Aphrodite teleported all of her children to their individual homes, save Astrid who lived with her, and left to attend yet another Olympian council meeting. Astrid sighed and left the mansion to find something to do, purposefully leaving the front doors open to vent the horrid smell from within; it was already bad enough that she was being forced to wash her clothes three times to get rid of the stench of perfume.

She walked down the steps and wandered around the mountain, mind on things other than where she was such as her house in the magical pocket and lack of DVD players, when she bumped into someone coming the other way. The person was so much bigger than Astrid that she literally bounced backwards and almost fell on her butt. She looked up into the face of her father.

"Oh," said Astrid, feeling indifferent. "Hi."

"Hello," He grumbled in his deep voice. "Do you walk into people often?"

"Only when I'm bored," Astrid shrugged. "Why aren't you at the council meeting?"

"What council meeting?"

"The one that Mum went to."

He raised an eyebrow, a difficult thing to notice on his warped face. "There is no council meeting today; that's why she got her day off with you."

"No council meeting…" Astrid repeated slowly. "Great. I got side-lined by my own mother."

"She has a habit of side-lining people."

An awkward silence overtook them. The _worst_ subject for them to come across was Aphrodite's infidelity and the fact that the marriage between her and Hephaestus had shattered completely as a result. Astrid went to great lengths to avoid such conversations and this was no exception. She would not be a conduit that took all the anger and pain from one parent and had to deal with it before speaking to the other. If parents wanted to keep their children happy in the midst of their rough marriages, they shouldn't be complaining to them about their husband/wife. That is their _parent_ you are talking about. The fact that you are _also_ their parent makes it _worse_.

"I guess everyone does that at some point," Astrid said evasively; they were not having this talk. "Have you seen Sabine?"

"Sabine?" Hephaestus stroked his beard. "Last I saw she was with her mother. She's been with her a lot these past few days; doesn't seem to want to leave her side."

"Oh that's probably because of the nightmares." Astrid said offhandedly, remembering the story the two girls had come up with.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah, she gets them every now and again. I'm gonna go find something to do."

"Right," Her father gave her a look that was completely indescribable since his face, as previously stated, was a nightmare that did not seem to change. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Like annoy Mum?"

Hephaestus froze. "Don't do anything _stupid_ , then."

"Okay."

Astrid walked down another street and deliberately turned a corner so that she was out of his sight. There was being ignorant, where you didn't know any better, and then there was being stupid where you did know better but refused to admit it because you were an idiot.

And Astrid could never be as stupid as her parents.


	25. Shot in the Arm

Chapter 24- Shot in the Arm

It was a regular day at The Den.

Dozens of small children ran from place to place, carrying rocket launchers and barbed Nerf guns for paintballing, and the older teenagers were either lounging about in shaded areas or participating in some kind of brutal sport. There was football, complete with players armed with pepper spray if you annoyed them too much, fencing, mountain climbing, abseiling, car maintenance and all manner of activities that ensured the acres of land were all alive with buzzing children.

Annabeth had chosen to play Stealth Strike; a game that had one team attempting to get across a white line without being caught by the spotlight was manned by the opposite team. It could only be played at night and there were a variety of objects to hide behind and the infiltrating team was unarmed since the whole point of the game was to rely on stealth alone. Unfortunately, the opposite team did not have to forsake any weaponry and all the guns were out, literally, to try and mow down anyone who came too close to the glare of the spotlight.

"Jesus!" Annabeth cursed as she ducked behind an overturned car, narrowly avoiding being shot by some kind of gun. "What the hell are they using this time?"

"AKs," Thomas, her teammate, replied with a grin. "They're the cheapest and most readily available weapon on the black market. That's basically asking for us to buy them."

"Not asking for them to be shot at unsuspecting demi-gods," Annabeth grumbled. "Are the healers on duty today?"

"The healers are always on duty now that we have a demi-god here. GRENADE!"

They bolted towards a wall made out of roofing and rubber tires as the car they were hiding behind exploded. Annabeth could see the spotlight moving past it and hear the laughter and _ooh's_ of the opposite team as they saw the flames rise into the sky. Bloody demolition experts.

"How many of us have gotten over the line?" Annabeth asked, covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve to block out the smoke.

"Three so far," said Thomas. "That leaves nine of us and everyone else is further back."

"So we're the main targets."

"Yep. Unless we can find a way to get further forwards without them realising, that is."

Annabeth shook her head. "The spotlight's still on us. We won't be able to get up there together; we'll have to split up."

"That's usually how it goes," Thomas grinned. "Remember, last one on the team to cross the line buys us all dinner."

"Kind of hard to buy you something if I'm dead," Annabeth grumbled. "But I remember. Ready?"

"Yeah," They got ready to run from the wall in different directions. "Go!"

Thomas went right and Annabeth went left.

The enemy team went mental, firing their guns at them both and throwing all manner of explosives at the people who had finally decided to come out into the open. It took a moment for the one manning the spotlight to decide who to follow; they settled on Thomas since he was a god and the bigger threat as far as they were concerned. Annabeth sprinted forwards, down the hill and towards the white line that was slowly coming into view. The closer she got to it, the less her black shape in the dark looked like an object in the field and pretty soon people were taking pot shots at her once again.

She ducked behind a set of metal barrels when the spotlight turned on her instead, she was now closer to the line and thus the centre of attention, and a homemade hand grenade sailed over the top of the wall she was hiding behind and landed right between her legs.

Annabeth swore loudly and bolted.

There wasn't really anything she could do except run at the line and try not to get hit by anything as she was sprinting. Basically, she went straight into the middle of the gunfire and tried to dodge bullets that travelled at hundreds of miles per hour by weaving about and ducking, dodging and jumping. The spotlight followed her the whole way and she couldn't help but laugh; it may have been incredibly dangerous but the adrenaline in the situation and the fact that it was a _game_ made her exhilarated. Some people on the opposite team laughed with her.

Annabeth had just put one foot over the line when white hot pain erupted in her arm. She tumbled across the rest of the line and fell into a heap on the floor. Moments later, one of the healers on duty for the match rushed up to her and forced her out of the fetal position to get a look at the wound.

The healer whistled. "Blimey," She bent Annabeth's arm to get a better view. "It went straight through. At least they kept to the rules of only using SMG rounds once the enemies got within three feet of the line."

She summoned a First Aid kit that was filled with a bunch of things that were used to tend to bullet wounds and went to work on Annabeth's left arm. The bullet had hit her in the forearm and blood was steadily dripping down it. The healer scooped it all up with a rag and threw it into a nearby bonfire.

"Demi-god blood," She made a face. "Dangerous thing to have around. You don't mind it being burned, do you?"

"No," Annabeth groaned and tried not to cry. "Do you have any painkillers?"

"Oh yeah, crap, sorry."

Annabeth was given a flask to drink out of that contained a mixture of alcohol, honey, nectar and other things that probably shouldn't have been mixed together in any other situation. Her body went numb a few seconds later and she turned her head to watch the field where the rest of her team where making their way down.

She'd made it quite a ways over the line in her tumble. Thomas was pinned down by fire in a spot a few metres away from it and the rest had caught up with him now. It was anyone's game. The three of her teammates who had already made it across gathered around to see how she was doing.

"Alright Annie," One with messy dirty blonde hair grinned at her; Newt had been using that nickname so many times that it was beginning to stick. "That was one hell of a run you made."

"Yeah," The girl beside him, named Ivory, agreed. "Straight through the sights of some of the best shots in the world and you only got hit when the defence systems kicked in. Bloody brilliant that."

"The wound looks nasty though," The first boy commented. "There's literally a hole in your arm. Don't worry, though, that'll close in a few minutes after the bandages are put on. And now you don't have to buy us any dinner."

"If I was left handed, I wouldn't be able to _eat_ dinner," Annabeth rasped in her voice hoarse from pain. "Live ammunition should be banned."

"It's all mortal ammunition so it doesn't really affect us," Ivory shrugged. "Just gives us a bit of a shock. Although, Kelly _was_ thinking about stopping the use of firearms altogether a few years back and we know she's still considering it. The whole point of this place is that we _don't_ get destroyed, after all."

"I dunno if she's _considering_ it," The third teammate commented. "She already banned RPGs and high quality explosives from use in The Den. I think she's made up her mind and is waiting for ammo to run out so she can ban everything and there won't be any spare bullets we can fire."

"She is crafty like that."

There were shouts and the enemy team began flailing about as Thomas finally broke free of their fire and crossed the line. He stopped short at the sight of Annabeth on the ground.

"Holy hell, what did _you_ get hit with?" He asked.

"SMG round," A teammate explained. "Went straight through, as well. Very impressive wound."

"Whatever," Thomas rolled his eyes. "How long until it gets better?"

"For a god it would be a few hours," The healer explained. "But for a demi-god it will take about a week with our healing expertise. She'll have to stay in her dormitory and get some sleep after I finish with this."

"What?" Annabeth asked groggily. "But I'm supposed to get my dinner off the person who comes last! If I leave I won't get any and it'll be eaten by someone else."

"We'll send it up," said Thomas. "You just sit tight in the warmest floor in the mansion and play video games like there's no tomorrow like every other girl on that floor."

"Except the Slappers; they either get their 'beauty sleep' or run their chat line with the seventy year old who they need to repeat everything to twice."

The healer stopped the bleeding with three drops of nectar and fed Annabeth a square of ambrosia. She then wrapped bandages around her arm so tightly that it made Annabeth wince at the feeling and covered the bandages with a protective casing so they wouldn't come free and Annabeth couldn't put pressure on her arm in the night.

"All done," She announced. "Back up to your dormitory now. Come, come."

Annabeth was pulled gently to her feet as the healer led her away from the field and towards the house. It was a bit rich, she thought, to have someone who couldn't have been much older than Annabeth herself acting like she knew everything like some Olympian or god who had been around for three thousand years.

It was much quieter in the house at any meal time because everyone was out reeking some kind of havoc and everyone under fifteen was running around trying to fit in as much activity into their day as possible. The older children preferred to sit and talk/relax inside which was pretty much every teenagers life except without the parents who constantly nagged and complained that their children should be outside doing something and not sat in front of a screen that 'isn't good for you' when it was a perfectly nice day outside.

Some people just didn't understand the definition of _relaxing_.

When Annabeth arrived at the door escorted by a healer, as so many of her roommates had before, they all turned and grinned at her.

"Shot in the arm, eh?" Phoebe smirked. "That's nothing. I almost got my own spine shattered by a tank some nine year olds were driving."

"I'm a demi-god. If I scale up what a bullet to the arm feels like for _us_ to the level of a _god_ , then I can guarantee it will be just as bad as being run over by a tank. And that's _not_ including infection and the attraction of monsters to the smell of our blood." Annabeth retorted.

"Whatever," The daughter of Apollo rolled her eyes. "Sit on the couch and watch Horrible Histories with me."

Annabeth said goodbye to the healer and wobbled over to where Phoebe was sat, taking extra care not to jostle her arm as she sat down beside her.

"You're watching Horrible Histories?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly around for all of this stuff and I have to find out somehow."

"But there's so much stuff they leave out that kids aren't allowed to know."

"I'm pacing myself," Phoebe insisted. "Hey, you've gone really pale."

"I believe it's called going into shock," said Annabeth as she tried not to throw up from the rolling in her stomach. "Every mortal who gets shot goes into shock."

"Drink this," Phoebe lifted a glass of _something_ to her lips and Annabeth sipped it. "Maybe you should get into bed."

"And die in my sleep? I don't think so."

"Not to sleep, you moron, to lie down. You shouldn't have been _walking_ at all after getting shot; I guess these healers aren't as experienced as they claim to be. I'll have to speak to Kelly about it."

"Good, get her to ban live firearms." Annabeth muttered as she spread out on the couch into a prone position. The couch was much bigger than normal ones and was shaped like an 'L' so there was plenty of space for Annabeth to put her legs.

"She's already decided to do that. It's going into effect next Friday so I'd advise staying inside on that day. There's definitely going to be some violent protesting that has to be put down with just as violent methods."

"Wonderful," Annabeth sighed and tried to get comfortable; the throbbing in her arm made that incredibly difficult. "What season is this?"

"Two. I just started watching it."

They spent the next few minutes in silence, staring at the screen. Annabeth was no longer going into shock thanks to the godly food she had consumed but that didn't stop Phoebe from glancing down at her every thirty seconds to make sure everything was okay. They were in the middle of a skit about Oliver Cromwell when the dormitory door opened and everyone else who slept inside came through it. One of them was carrying a bag of take-out that smelled _delicious_.

"Chase!" A brown haired girl named Belle shouted across the room. "Where are you? Come get your dinner you lazy beggar."

"She's over here," said Phoebe. "And she's been shot so be nice."

"Shot?" Hermione asked. "By who?"

Phoebe shrugged. "She was playing Stealth Strike. You know how violent things can get there."

"Well _duh,_ you should only ever play Stealth Strike with people older than fifteen on both sides; that's how you keep yourself safe. Only the mental ones play with the children." Said Chelsea.

"Demi-gods must be stranger than we thought." Alice agreed.

"Whatever," Belle rolled her eyes and dropped the bag of food on Annabeth's stomach. "Hey, you don't look so good."

"I got shot with an SMG round," Annabeth mumbled. "I can't even _feed_ myself right now."

"Oh wonderful," Belle turned to look at someone. "Hermione! Come over here and feed Annabeth her dinner, would you? She got shot in the arm by an actual bullet."

"I didn't think we were allowed to use live firearms anymore," Hermione mused as she walked over and sat on the couch beside Annabeth's legs. "Kelly blew up about it the last time someone was shot."

"She's banning them all on Friday," Phoebe commented nonchalantly. "Stay away from all babies when that day comes. Hey, is this another song?"

A song about Charles the Second began to play and, while there would normally have been no attention given to music on TV, this one was about partying which immediately garnered everyone's interest.

"Yo!" Bianca exclaimed as she vaulted the couch and stopped within thirty centimetres of the screen. "This song is dope!"

"Dope?" Belle threw a cushion at her. "Speak English you moron. There are much better songs than _that_ on the internet."

"Oh yeah?" Bianca turned to glare at her. "Why don't you pick one and we'll see how _dope_ your choice of music is?"

"Fine, I will!"

Annabeth blocked out their conversation and turned her attention to the dumpling that was being offered to her by Hermione. She opened her mouth and ate it without complaint about how she was literally being fed by someone else. Phoebe fast-forwarded past the song to vainly try and stop the argument that was picking up steam inside the dormitory and turned the volume up louder to smother the noise.

A song started playing on someone's stereo that everyone's heads perked up at. Phoebe paused her show.

"Is that…"

"Yep," Belle was smirking triumphantly. "Tell me that _this_ isn't considered _dope_ music."

"You little git," Bianca cursed. "You've been holding out on me. Where did you get the CD?"

"HMV. I love this song."

"Forget your love of it. Fast-forward to the chorus; that's the best bit!"

Words started blaring through the speakers and the girls began to sing along. Annabeth stared at them all like they'd grown second heads and listened to the lyrics.

 _Why? Please tell me why do we worry?_

 _Why? Why do we worry at all?_

Of course.

Many girls already liked music from Set It Off but any song about forgoing worry and being free was always at the top of a Street Rat's playlist. That made the song 'Why Worry' a top ten song for many of the girls although Annabeth personally preferred Disney songs since they always had better messages and were generally more uplifting.

All of the girls who weren't Annabeth and Hermione got up and started to jump around as they danced to the music. Annabeth groaned and locked eyes with Hermione.

"I'm all for freedom of expression but this is ridiculous. Everytime a good song comes on they go mental."

"You say that now," Hermione fished another tub of food out of the paper bag. "I bet you'll end up saying you miss it if they ever stop or you end up leaving. That's what happened with Sabine and it's what happens to everyone who moans and complains. You never know what you've got until it's gone."

She picked up the remote and started to flick through the channels on the TV. They were using a mixture of mortal television networks and ones moderated by Olympus on their box so they could literally watch whatever they wanted. The channel surfing stopped abruptly when they came to a news show that had the words 'breaking news' highlighted at the bottom and explosion going off on screen.

"What the hell?" Annabeth frowned as she listened.

"… _multiple attacks on the centre,"_ A news reporter dressed in a white toga was saying. _"This should deeply affect all trade and access to goods for every magical creature in the world. Eye witnesses report that strange creatures who have the body shape of ogres but with pale skin covered in red tattoos were responsible for the blast. Lord Zeus himself has personally arrived on site to discern the full extent of the damage and catch those responsible. This has not yet been confirmed but if it is found that these creatures are in league with a higher being, as they would have to be for such a coordinated attack, we can all assume that war is on the way. Now to our spokesperson-"_

"Turn that off," A new voice in the room ordered and Hermione hit the off button on the remote. Kelly Jones stood in the doorway. "The news the Olympians allow to be shown is heavily censored. I think it's safe to assume that their message is a war declaration on whoever attacked Hermes' messenger service."

"Kelly," Phoebe said softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the leader, remember? Got to make sure nobody gets killed or maimed."

"A bit late for that," Bianca commented. "Annabeth got shot by an SMG. Bloody brilliant wound from what the healers are saying; there was a bleeding great hole that you could see through."

"Oh," Kelly's eyes trailed over to Annabeth who was lying on the couch and being fed by Hermione. "Did you go into shock? All mortals are supposed to do that if they get shot."

"Nah, I had some nectar before that happened so it kind of staved off the worst bits." Annabeth replied.

Kelly hummed. "You'll have to get a schedule that avoids all lethal activities when you're better."

"Ignoring the things that happen to a mortal body," Belle interrupted. "What's going on with that thing on the news? Did the whole place really blow up?"

"Yes," Kelly answered. "And it was protected by some of the most powerful magical concealments that the Olympians had to offer which only they know about. The only way someone could have found out exactly where Hermes' headquarters is was to either be powerful enough to detect such things, to be an Olympian or to have been told about it by an Olympian."

"Nothing good then," Phoebe noted. "What are they doing about it?"

"They locked down Olympus and are checking the loyalties of everyone they hold in their confidence."

"Ey?" Bianca frowned. "If they've locked down Olympus, how did _you_ get out?"

Kelly smirked at her and continued speaking. "They're suspicious of Faction involvement so everyone should lay low for a while. Almost every one of the Olympians is out questioning people and I don't want anyone to get roughed up. Chelsea, go spread the message through the loud speaker but don't lose focus and start talking about all the gossip you learned like last time."

Chelsea mumbled something under her breath about having too much caffeine that day and skipped away to do as she was told.

"Kelly, out of interest, did you find anything out about our… _problem?_ " Phoebe questioned.

Everyone stared at her in confusion.

"I have a lead," Kelly replied. "I'm following it up now."

"A lead?" Hermione frowned. "What are you two talking about?"

"Phoebe got smashed in the back of her head by a ball the other day; I agreed to help find who did it and throw one back."

"A ball?" Bianca repeated. "Yeah right. What do you think we are, thick?"

"Yes," said Kelly. "Now go back to your dancing and don't believe everything you hear from the Olympian channels. Also, make sure Annabeth is in bed by eight and doesn't get out tomorrow. I don't want anyone dying in here."

"Yes ma'am," Belle saluted. "See you when you finish a million of your adventures and schemes in the outside world."

"Oh please," Kelly stopped as she turned to leave. "I don't have a million; it's only just passed a thousand."

She walked off and the door closed behind her. Everyone turned back to Phoebe.

"So, what is she _really_ looking into?" Bianca asked.

"None of your business," Phoebe snapped. "Kelly will deal with it and that's that. Now turn the music back on; I need inspiration for my new album."

Everyone went back to what they had originally been doing but there was a fair bit of whispered conversations going on.

What were Phoebe and Kelly hiding from them? Who had blown up the Olympian Postal Service? There were no definitive answers they could find.

Annabeth went back to being fed her dinner and briefly wondered what would happen if war broke out again. The last two times had been especially dangerous and trying for her and this one might just kill her if it really _did_ start and the shades got involved. She found herself wondering about her friends back at camp; would they be sucked into all of this? Absolutely. The gods of Olympus could do little without the aid of demi-gods and the years of being linked to the mortal world had left no alternative for them. It was fortunate that the Street Rats did not have this limitation as every one of them was young and did had no job that involved representing something in the mortal world.

Still, Annabeth thought about the Factions and the shades and the mysterious being in the shadows who would rise when her blood touched the Blood Stone. All these factors that were threats to Olympus and yet remained elusive to the Olympians.

If there was ever a recipe to start a war, civil unrest and the pulling of strings was most definitely it. And since the Olympians had about as much skill at stopping conflict as they did containing their own egos, this was going to be a year to remember.


	26. The Traitor

Chapter 25- The Traitor

Kelly Jones was on a mission.

Everyone she came across knew this just by looking at her but they didn't think anything bad of it. They still said hello and invited her to meet ups and asked for permission to launch grenades at their worst enemies just like every other day. She didn't give permission for any lethal force but hinted that non-lethal methods of humiliation and revenge were perfectly acceptable in their ragtag society.

She continued onwards to her destination, the border of the woods, and glanced around nonchalantly for any sign that her quarry had come back from where she had last seen him. It was almost nine o'clock now and the sky was dark and filled with stars but the land in which the Street Rats lived remained alight with the many fires, sentries, automated machinery and spotlights that had been set up for a variety of reasons such as security and catching people who were up to no good. You want to steal someone's unfinished woodwork project? Nope. The cameras and lights would make you clearly visible and you'd be descended upon by dozens of heavily armed teenagers all ready to kick you back to Timbuctoo.

Theft was not an easy thing in The Den. Not if you weren't a Street Rat who had been in the job for more than three years.

The border of the forest was illuminated by several lamps that had been hung on fence posts and tree branches. The trees themselves reached high into the sky with healthy coloured leaves and the grass between them was much longer than in the rest of the fields. That probably had something to do with the lack of explosions and fires that happened in the forest; the last thing they needed was a thousand pieces of dead wood that could never be used again. It was considered fairly lucky that barely any nymphs lived in the trees as they too would have been killed and then there would have been a very serious problem on their hands. For some people it would be blood, for others the responsibility of burial and punishing the killers with flare guns and a mixture of ice and salt.

Kelly came to a stop at the log cabin used by the lumber jacks and saw that only one light remained on inside which cast a single shadow that moved about as it worked. He was alone; that would either make things so much easier or much more difficult for other people to believe.

She strode up to the door and knocked on it gently before pushing it open; not waiting for a reply before entering was something she'd picked up from her foster father. It always annoyed the hell out of her but this wasn't a person she cared about annoying. The worse he felt the better.

"Galli," Kelly called as she closed the door behind her. "What are you doing? It's getting a bit late to still be out here, isn't it?"

The boy in question stood up straight from where he had been crouched over a table and turned to her with a grin. There was a laptop on the surface with a messenger tab open.

"Isn't it a bit late for you to be out here, Kelly?" questioned Galli as he smiled like nothing was wrong.

"Not when I've got work to do," Kelly paced around the single room in the cabin and directed her eyes away from Galli so that he could not see what she was looking at. "What do you think about the Factions?"

"Factions?" Galli repeated with a frown. "They're not Street Rats."

"Obviously. How do you feel about them?"

"Some of them can get pretty violent," said Galli. "But so does everyone else. I guess they're just people trying to get their point across."

"Their point being that anyone who isn't an enemy of the Olympians is an enemy of theirs?"

"Well," Galli frowned some more. "Sometimes extremes are necessary when dealing with totalitarian governments."

"Totalitarian?" Kelly repeated, turning to face him. "You call the hierarchy of the Street Rats ' _totalitarian_ '?"

Galli looked stumped. "Kelly what are you-"

"I know you sold us out, Galli," said Kelly, getting straight to the point. "I know you're working with a Faction and you told them that we'd infiltrated their servers. The soldiers that were sent to get me said that we'd been snitched on and the only person who could have done so was you."

" _What?_ " Galli looked shocked. "I don't know what you're talking about. There were ten people working on that project!"

"I never said anything about a project." Kelly growled as a dark look overtook her features.

Galli froze as he turned over the words of their conversation in his head. He'd given himself away.

He straightened his back very slowly and lifted his head. A darker tone invaded his voice.

"I really wish you hadn't noticed that, Jones."

Then everything happened so fast it would have made a mortals head spin.

Galli grabbed a blade from his pocket and swung at Kelly, who dodged out of the way. The laptop on the table exploded with a loud _bang_ and the windows shattered. Galli took off through the open space before Kelly's ears had stopped ringing.

"Galli!" Kelly cursed and ran after him. "Come back here you bastard!"

He ran into the denser part of the forest and there was a surge of magical energy as he prepared to teleport away. Kelly swore again and latched onto him as he disappeared; the world turned on its head and warped into an unfocused spiral before coming into view again.

They were in an underground cavern that had pipes running through the walls and a generator blasting out steam and heat in one corner. The ceiling was lined with black rock and white veins could be seen flowing from one end of the open space to the other. There were boxes and crates stacked up in sets of five against all surfaces that had weapons, potions and other materials spilling out of them. It was fairly obvious that this was the forge used to craft equipment for battle and almost every resource had huge chunks taken out of them where they had been used to craft some kind of deadly weapon.

This was a familiar place to Kelly.

This was the headquarters of Shadow Faction.

Galli swore as he leapt away from her. "You meddling little bitch," He spat on the ground. "I should have known that you'd never understand."

"Understand why you would want to betray your friends who looked after you when your family abandoned you like so many others?" Kelly questioned sarcastically. "Let me think. _No_ , I don't understand. I could _never_ understand."

"And that is why you will fail in the world," Galli insisted and Kelly glared at him some more. She had a tingling feeling on the back of her neck and the sensation that someone else was watching her. "The Factions are the only way forward, Jones. If we want to defeat a powerful enemy we must stand together, you taught me that."

"Did I not also say that selling out your friends and abandoning all sense of loyalty is the characteristic of a weak-minded piece of-"

"I had to tell them what you did!" Galli interrupted her. "I could not let the people who share my views for the future have their secrets stolen by a bug that _you_ placed on their servers."

"So you told them to destroy me," said Kelly, anger rising. "And Phoebe. And _Hermione_ and _Flasher_ and _Tony_ and _Victor_."

"I didn't know you were with them at the time," Galli insisted. "But it doesn't matter. They're all too loyal to their friends to ever think about the bigger picture."

"The _bigger picture?_ " Kelly's hand twitched as the feeling of being watched grew stronger. "There is no bigger picture. Not for us."

"The Olympians are forcing our world into ruin!" Galli shouted. "They've had two wars in two years and they never learned from the mistakes they made. The king blamed his _own son_ for a prophecy that had been recorded in a book three _thousand_ years before Gaia even began to wake! He does anything to make himself look better!"

"Is that not what you're doing now?" Kelly pointed out. "Picking on the flaws of another to make yourself look blameless. You betrayed us, Galli."

His face went red.

"I cannot betray the people I never truly sided with! I must make every effort possible to take down Olympus and install a better system in its place!"

"You think you have a _better system?_ " Kelly shouted back. "For the _whole world?_ You're a fool Galli."

"You hate the Olympians!" Galli pointed an accusing finger at her. "You said yourself that they are hypocritical and unwise!"

"I said that because it's the truth," said Kelly. "They make stupid decisions and treat their children like dirt despite acting like complete imbosiles themselves."

"Then join me! Join the Faction and we can get rid of them once and for all! We could _use_ someone like you, Kelly, and your friends will increase our numbers tenfold."

"No." Kelly replied.

Galli stared at her like he'd misheard. "Excuse me?"

Kelly shrugged her shoulders. "No. I'm not joining you."

Galli frowned. "But you just said-"

"I said the truth," Kelly explained. "The Olympians make stupid decisions and take out their anger on their children. What I _didn't_ say was that they should be removed from power. They shouldn't."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Nope, I'm just good at being rational and intelligent and not acting like an extremist whenever the going gets tough," Kelly mocked him. "You're a moron, Galli. If you weren't you would be able to see that while the Olympians are not perfect they are _much better_ than the Factions."

"You're speaking nonsense. The Olympians are terrible to all us gods; they call us _minor_."

"And so do the Factions. Maybe you've forgotten how many people were slaughtered by these people who you _claim_ are so enlightened? How many of us 'minor gods'," She make quotation marks with her fingers. "They captured and tortured for information on Olympus. Information that _some people_ didn't possess which made their torture little more than a sadistic pleasure for the people you call your allies. The Factions are _evil_ , Galli! They're murderers!"

"You don't know what you're talking about! You've never met any of the upper level Faction leaders!"

"Just because people don't tell you about something doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I ran one over once."

"This is ridiculous," Galli smashed his fist into a pile of rocks. "You're stalling for time, trying to delay our confrontation."

"I thought this _was_ our confrontation?"

"Our clashing of swords," Galli summoned a double edged steel weapon into his hands. "Will end with your defeat. I should have known better than to try and reason with you. There is no reaching out to the child of an Olympian. And _especially_ not a daughter of Zeus."

Kelly raised her eyebrows. "Are you mental?" Her face darkened into a glare. "Don't lie, Galli. Your attempts to throw me off won't work. I know who my father is."

"Not your birth father," Galli continued. "That mortal won't be around forever. I know you've been wondering who your _real_ parents are and I found one of them. You're a daughter of Zeus; I was told by a _higher being_."

"Higher being my ass," Kelly summoned her own sword to her hand. "You're full of mud, Galli. Mud and filthy lies."

"The Fates could tell you the truth about your parentage. They have such things within their power. And I'm certain the king will want to check this rumour upon your return; he's had the suspicion that a child slipped through his net for _years_ now."

"Really?" Kelly was not convinced. "And why would he check _me?_ "

"Because his spy broke in here twenty minutes ago and listened in on our conversation the moment we arrived," He looked up to a spot over Kelly's shoulder. "Hello Eris. You've lost your touch at cloaking yourself."

Kelly's eyes widened slightly and she whirled around to find the goddess of strife standing beside a shadowed wall, her figure half hidden by the darkness.

"You, youngling, have neither subtlety nor intelligence," Eris glared at Galli with teeth bared; Kelly shifted out of the way slightly. "You saw me only because I wanted you to see me."

"Really?" Galli cocked his head to the side arrogantly. "Because I could have sworn Kelly sensed your presence ages ago. I can sense when people make sudden realisations, you know. Younglings aren't as powerless as you think, old timer."

"Don't talk about me like we're friends," Kelly snapped at him. "Traitor."

"Whatever," Galli rolled his eyes disinterestedly. "Have fun with the fossil."

There was a warped flash of light as his figure disappeared and a dagger embedded itself in the wall behind where he had been standing. Kelly stared at it and recognised the mark of Eris on it; it seemed she had as little patience for people like Galli as Kelly did.

"Did you really aim down there?" Kelly asked as she noted the position where the dagger had landed. "That's a little harsh for a male, isn't it?"

"From your point of view," Kelly turned around and noticed that Eris was giving her a curious look. "How long was your bug on Faction servers?"

"A while," Kelly shrugged. "Why?"

"I came for information," Eris looked her up and down. "And I have to take you back anyway just to be sure…"

"Sure about what?" Kelly felt irritation rise in her stomach. "You don't really believe what Galli said, do you? I doubt even Zeus could have a child and not know about it."

"You said yourself that the Olympians are not perfect. And the king _has_ suspected for the past two decades that he may have conceived another immortal child that was not revealed to him by the mother. You were born early and left to fade away…" Eris gave her a scrutinising look. "Wanting to destroy a child is a very good reason to avoid informing the would-be father. I must inform my lord of this development."

"Great," Kelly deadpanned. "While you're at it, why don't you ask him to find my sadistic mother and tell me where she lives? I've been looking to put that woman down for the past eighteen years of my life."

"Sarcasm does not become you, new-born. I sense you have a good heart."

"It'll probably go away once Zeus takes an interest in me. I may even end up on the hit list of his insane wife if this turns out to be true."

Eris gave her another, indecipherable look. "Return to Olympus. You will not like the consequences if a search party is sent out after you."

"Like they could ever find me," Kelly muttered before vanishing on the spot.

She took no notice of the warping in her vision as she appeared in the tunnels beneath Mount Olympus. The place that she would usually explore with curiosity now held no wonder for her as she stalked through the winding tunnels and up towards her bedroom. Finding out the identities of her birth parents had always been a constant source of emotional turmoil for Kelly. After all, her mother had attempted to destroy her and her father was a no show. Did it matter if he was unaware of her existence? Absolutely not. If it turned out that her father _was_ Zeus then she bitterly thought that she would be able to understand why her mother had been so keen to get rid of the baby. Hera was a cruel woman who showed no mercy on her husband's illegitimate children despite their existence being no fault of their own.

Furthermore, Eris and Galli had said that Zeus had suspected for the past two decades that he had an immortal child in the world who he had never met. _Two. Decades._ That was time that he could have spent searching or attempting to discover the identity of his child that he knew nothing about. For all he knew, the child could have been in serious trouble and almost ended up dead. And that _was_ what had happened. Kelly had almost faded from existence because her mother had forced her out of the womb three months early which had caused her growth to advance at the rate of a human; she'd also only been born with _half_ of her essence because of that _witch_ and if her foster father had not found Kelly abandoned in the middle of the road then she would have had nothing to fill it with. Granted, using the genetic make-up of a human to fabricate the essence of a god had never happened before, but it had worked. That didn't mean she'd suggest it to anyone else since there were a few side-effects; the most obvious being that Kelly could not change her appearance because it was half of her foster father and half of her birth father.

She really hoped she didn't bear some previously unrecognised resemblance to Zeus.

Kelly practically stormed down the hallway to her tiny bedroom and, ignoring the stares of the servants, went inside and slammed the door shut beside her. Tramp was lying on her bed in his usual lazy state and his eyes followed Kelly as she sat down on the bed beside him.

"Ignore me," She told him. "Go back to sleep or whatever you were doing."

The dog turned away from her and closed his eyes as he drifted off again. Kelly sighed and leant back against the wall as she looked around her room.

Why hadn't she renovated the place yet? The only thing she'd changed was the lack of carpet and the fabric was always warm beneath her feet since the warm gases used to heat the rest of the palace all flowed through a tube that was right beneath her floor.

Kelly reached under her pillow and pulled out a book about the Aztec empire to take her mind off things. No sooner had she done so than Tramp lifted his head from the bed and growled at the door; moments later someone knocked on it and it swung open before she could reply. Ares stood in the doorway.

"Alright kid," He greeted before looking round the small space. "Is this where you sleep? I thought this was a broom cupboard."

"It used to be," said Kelly, eyeing him suspiciously. "There weren't any other rooms so they put me in here."

"Huh," He glanced around the room one last time. "Well if this whole thing with your unidentified birth father turns out the way we think it will you'll probably end up with a room twenty times the size of this."

"I don't want a new room," Kelly said. "I like this one. It's cosy."

"Cosy?" Ares raised an eyebrow and looked around the room again. "I'd call it small. Then again, you probably aren't used to mansions and so on if you were raised by a mortal. You were raised by a mortal, right?"

"A human," Kelly frowned. "Why are you here?"

"The big guy wants to see you."

"Yeah and let me guess, the Fates are gonna be there too?"

Ares looked at her strangely. "You really don't want to be his daughter, do you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"None of your business."

Ares sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I've got orders to take you up to the throne room so put down the book and let's go."

"Tramp doesn't like being alone for more than eight hours a day," stalled Kelly. "I can't go anywhere unless he comes with me."

"Then bring him," Ares shrugged. "We've never had an immortal dog that wasn't bred for war. People might like having him around."

Kelly grumbled and stuffed the book back under her pillow.

"Whatever. Next time could you actually _wait_ for an answer before opening the door? You're like one of those really annoying and invasive parents."

"I _am_ a parent," said Ares. "And watch your mouth I'm still three thousand years older than you. Respect your elders."

"Only when they respect me," Kelly muttered. "How many people are upstairs?"

"Just Lord Zeus and the Fates," Ares replied. "Which isn't any better than if it was him and someone else. You'll still probably end up dead with that snarky personality of yours. In case I never get to say it, welcome to the family kid."

"Why've you stopped acting like you want to pick a fight with me?"

"I don't want to pick a fight with you, you're much too small. It'd make me nothing more than a scumbag if I picked on a kid with a birth defect."

"Maybe you should tell your children that," Kelly suggested. "Or Zeus for that matter. He might be nicer to me then."

"The day father is nice to a child who hasn't sucked up to him is the day I hug Athena," Ares stepped back out of the doorway and gestured down the corridor. "After you."


	27. Kidnapped

Chapter 26- Kidnapped

The fires had all been put out in Camp Jupiter. Percy had been forced to stay on duty all night using his powers to quench the blaze and did not get any sleep the night after because Chiron had insisted he remain alert in case the attackers returned. By the time it became clear that there would be no other assaults on camp, Percy was dead on his feet and ended up sleeping for two days after being given the go ahead to get into bed. When he woke up, the realisation that Annabeth was gone hit him like a ton of bricks and the thought of how she had been able to leave _so easily_ made his stomach churn with emotions that he couldn't separate and identify.

Emergency meetings where called in the senate and ran clean through the week but Percy's long naps and time as a firefighter meant that he only just got up in time to attend the sixth one. Everyone was there and Reyna nodded appreciatively to him as he entered and took a seat at the front with the rest of the seven, excluding Frank who stood beside Reyna as praetor.

"Centurion," Reyna addressed the leader of the First Cohort. "How are our defences?"

The centurion stood up to speak. "We've repaired all weapons and guard posts that were damaged during the attack. The borders of both New Rome and the Pomerian line are manned by no less than one hundred Roman and Greek demi-gods and efforts to repair buildings are well underway. However," The centurion's face turned stony. "We have no way of detecting beings that can materialise within our very walls and Terminus himself has stated that he cannot sense their approach. I am not sure how much we can do at this point, Praetor Reyna. If the shades make a return-"

"They won't return," Percy interrupted. Every eye in the room turned to him. "They came for Annabeth. The only reason they attacked Camp Jupiter both times was because they wanted to get her blood and both times they failed. What she said about putting us in danger, when she tried to leave and claimed that it was for our own safety, that was true. These creatures only attack places that she is hiding in and they have no reason to attack us now that she is gone."

Chiron, who sat in his wheelchair form beside the Praetor's podium, ran a hand through his hair with a sad sigh.

"As much as I wish I could say otherwise Percy, you are right. Annabeth knew that these creatures would be able to get through our defences and attempted to convince us of this so that she could leave and take the threat with her. We were too stubborn and self-assured to believe her."

"Hang on," Leo frowned from where he was sat on the bench. "If these creatures only attack places that Annabeth is hiding in, then why did they come after Camp Half-Blood? I mean, they'd already taken Percy and knew that his blood wouldn't work. What did they hope to achieve by demolishing the camp?"

"Probably wanted to thin our numbers," Clarisse grumbled from her bench a few seats further back. "That way it would be harder for us to attack them if we ever found out where they were. Not to mention make it more difficult to defend Annabeth if she ever decided to return."

Reyna nodded her agreement. "They may also have wanted to draw her out into the open," She suggested. "The destruction of a place that meant so much to her could very well have brought her back to Long Island. Fortunately for us she was unaware of what had transpired until safely on Olympus where she was promptly sent here."

"This is just plain ridiculous," Piper exclaimed suddenly. "Annabeth was on Olympus and the Olympians sent her here without a second thought. They were told that her blood would raise a powerful immortal and they didn't even care. They _still_ don't care. Does the word of a demi-god mean nothing to them?"

"Piper," Jason warned as his eyes flickered upwards, as though he were afraid she would get struck by lightning. "Go easy on what you say."

"She's right you know," said Percy, causing Jason to turn towards him. "The Olympians have something that could cause the rise of a primordial being fall into their laps and they do nothing. From what Annabeth said about the meeting, there wasn't even a full council in session. They didn't think anything of what she claimed was coming and assumed their power was unmatched, as usual."

Thunder boomed in the distance.

"Percy," Chiron gave the son of Poseidon a light warning. "Saying things in such harsh tones bodes well for no-one. We must focus on the matter at hand- destroying these creatures before they can complete their mission and capture Annabeth to raise their master whose existence we are as yet unsure of."

"And how are we supposed to do that, exactly?" Dakota asked. "These things have the powers of gods. Surely they have to be dealt with by the gods or maybe even the whole demi-god and god combination that was used to beat the giants."

"Unfortunately for us all I must admit that there has been no word from the gods on any of this," Chiron glared upwards for a brief moment. "Their minds remain fixed on the Faction threat and they do not believe that anything Annabeth said about the Blood of Olympus to be true. In the past this would not have mattered, as the Oracle of Delphi would have been able to provide us with a prophecy to guide us forwards. Given recent events, we no longer have that ability and we have all been left in the dark about what is to come and how to prepare for it."

"Then what do we do?" A Roman camper from the Third cohort demanded. "We can't just sit here and wait for us all to die. Those things are too powerful for one demi-god to handle; the Blood of Olympus will be spilled by the end of the week and we'll all be finished!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Frank, who had a small smile on his face. "Annabeth survived for months without us and these things only ever found her once."

"She faked her death," Another camper, Greek this time, insisted. "They won't fall for that again."

"She didn't survive because she'd faked her death," Hazel's voice carried around the hall. "She survived because she made powerful friends. _Godly_ friends."

"You mean Astrid and her sister?" Percy frowned. "They're up on Olympus now with their parents. Zeus won't let them interfere."

"She's not just friends with them, Percy," said Piper. "There are more, _much_ more, that she told me about and from what I can tell they don't take loyalty lightly. They hid her from the shades in the past and they'll do it again now."

"Gods?" Katie repeated. "Annabeth's friends with gods?"

"That's not a good thing," Clarisse grumbled. "Gods are unpredictable and forbidden to have anything to do with demi-gods. If they betray her then we're finished and if they stay with her but get caught by Zeus and taken away then we're still finished. Nothing about her being 'friends' with gods is going to save our hides and the rest of the world from this primordial."

There was a muttering of agreement across the stands.

"Silence, please," Reyna held up her hands and the room went quiet. "We have survived one primordial, yes? Why is that?"

People turned in their seats to look at one another and mumble.

"Um…" A camper tentatively raised his hand. "Because of the seven?"

"Because the Greeks and Romans fought together?"

"Because the gods fought alongside some demi-gods?"

"Because of the Athena Parthenos? Where did that thing go exactly?"

Reyna sighed but had a smile upon her lips. "You are right," She said, ignoring the last question. "Because of all those things combined, we have survived. And what is one of the things that all of those factors have in common?"

"Annabeth." Frank answered quietly from beside her.

"Exactly," said Reyna. "If there is one person we can count on to _not_ get us killed, one person who we can trust to stop the world from ending and Olympus from falling it is Annabeth Chase. She was there during the Titan assault on Olympus, was she not?"

"She was." Percy replied, now smiling slightly himself.

"And she was with us when Gaia attacked also, wasn't she?"

"Yep." Jason answered.

"Then we need not have fear," Reyna stated. "She may not have been given as much credit as she deserves but without Annabeth Chase there would not be a single one of us standing here today. We won't talk about how to stop the shades because we have no idea and are not in any position to do it. The person who _is_ in the position to do so _and_ knows _exactly_ how to finish them for good is out there right now. She may be hiding, or running, or keeping her head down as far as it will go but she is still out there. And that alone gives me hope that the shades will not prevail. The one they hunt is also the one with the power to destroy them. Remember that."

* * *

Percy walked out of the senate hall with his lips upturned at the sides. Things had been discussed quickly and efficiently thanks to Reyna and almost everyone who had been glum or devoid of hope was now actively working to rebuild New Rome and cement their future. The praetor in question came out of the building after everyone else with Frank walking beside her; Percy walked up to them.

"That was great," He said before Reyna could speak. "That speech you made about Annabeth."

"Thank you," said Reyna. "It was long overdue. I think I'm finally beginning to understand her situation."

"Me too," Percy agreed. "To keep us and everyone she cares about safe she had to leave and never come back. We blamed her for running away when the reality of it was that she left to protect us from harm."

"And she was ready to do it again the moment the shades turned up again," Frank added. "Everything she did, the running away and not telling us everything, that was to protect us."

"Even if she doesn't know it yet." Reyna said.

Percy frowned at her. "What do you mean? How could Annabeth leave to protect us and not know that was what she meant to do?"

"Percy, I…" Reyna paused for a moment and got ready to speak; Percy had never seen her falter before. "When I was speaking to Annabeth just before she ran away again, and giving her strength when she needed it, I got a backlash of her emotions."

"And…?"

"And, the one thing that I felt, more than anything, was a desire to be… _free_."

"Free?" Frank frowned.

"Yes, free. Free from worry and sorrow and regret. Free like the gods she's friends with, the people who took their lives into their own hands and made decisions to better their situations. I think… I think her need to be free like that is stopping her from thinking through all of her decisions and consciously recognising why she's done something. It's like her instincts have taken over and she can't quite explain why she's done something. Annabeth told me that she left to protect us and that was true but the more we talked and the further into her time on the run we got things started to get… blurry."

"Like when she didn't focus on anything but her sister," Frank pointed out, realising what Reyna was getting at. "There were moments when she'd just talk around the subject. Drag out the almost normal bits so that she could _feel_ almost normal. She ignored the threat of the shades and their master because her baser instincts took over. She wanted her life back."

"And when the shades turned up her mind took over again," Percy deduced. "That's what she was talking about when she said she never should have come back. Annabeth's mind was traumatised by being forced to run away and the only way for her to deal with it was to shut off those thoughts completely. That's why she was so impulsive and evasive when she got here. She couldn't think things through without breaking that barrier."

There was a long moment of silence between the three demi-gods.

"I wish this had never happened," Frank mumbled quietly. "I wish Annabeth had never had to go through this. All this time, every moment I spent with her, that strain on her brain, her _sanity_ , was staring me in the face and I never even noticed."

"Mr. D would have seen it if he were here," Percy said bitterly. "The one time it would have been good to have him around. He's the god of madness, remember? He could have identified what was happening to Annabeth and fixed it. There's a name for conditions like this, isn't there?"

Reyna nodded. "Dissociative amnesia. The subject blocks out stressful and traumatic memories so that they may function normally in their everyday life. It was only beginning to form with Annabeth, she only dimmed the memories slightly so they weren't too bad for her, but when the shades showed up and snapped her out of that trance her brain went into overtime mode. It prompted a fight or flight response in her and she was hardly in a position to fight anyone so she escaped with her friends."

"And if her brain didn't completely break out of that condition?" Percy asked worriedly. "What happens if it gets worse and worse until she forgets every traumatic experience in her life and loses most of her memory? What happens if she decides to stay in her carefree life forever or, even worse, forgets why she's there and wanders out where the shades could find her? What then?"

Another long period of silence descended over the group. None of them knew the answer to these questions. Percy's thoughts were reeling through his head as he worried about Annabeth's mental state. They'd been through a lot together, especially in Tartarus, and that had put a huge strain on both of them. Percy had been spared a fall into depression by Annabeth's interference but even when she had gone, when he thought that she'd died, he had not developed any mental conditions. A severe lack of control over his powers, certainly, and a deeply saddened personality but his brain had stayed his own. He couldn't imagine… the weight of the world literally _forcing_ you to block out the bad stuff… he shook his head to stop the train of thought.

"I'm going for a walk," He told Frank and Reyna. "Meet in Chiron's board room for the councillors meeting at three?"

"Yeah," Frank nodded. "We'll be there. And Percy, about Annabeth… she's a strong girl. You know that, right?"

Percy nodded. "I know. It's whether or not she stays that way that worries me."

He turned and walked down the path without another word to either of them. There was so little and yet so much that he wanted to know about Annabeth. Where was she? Who was she with? Did the people she was with even _realise_ that she had this condition? The demi-gods themselves wouldn't have known if not for Reyna's ability to feel emotional backlash after lending strength to others. And even with this information they couldn't openly publish it because of the agreement to keep Reyna's strength-lending abilities secret so that she would not be voted out of office.

Percy wandered off the path and took a shortcut behind some houses towards the mess hall. With all this turmoil and emotional sensations he was feeling, a bite to eat with some friends seemed like the best thing to do right now. He was coming to the end of the shortcut when a gloved hand wrapped itself around his throat and he was pulled around to come face-to-hood with a shade.

"Hello again, son of Poseidon," It hissed at him in a familiar tone. "It would seem we have use of you once more."

"You're kidding me, right?" Percy choked out as his airway was constricted. "What is this kidnap Percy year or something?"

The creature let out a cawing sound that might have been laughter.

"Nay," It replied. "This time our use for you is radically different from before. We need you to help draw out a friend of yours."

Percy's eyes widened as he choked. "Annabeth?" He coughed. "Why would you need me to get her?"

"Because among your tiresome jabbering and the _obvious_ notion that Miss Chase is suffering from a long term mental condition," The creature drew Percy closer to its face/hood. "You said something that is very similar to our current problem."

"Oh?" Percy tried to loosen the grip around his throat. "And what might that be?"

"Her _friends_ ," The creature hissed with distaste, like it had just sworn or eaten a jar of marmite. "They hide her from us. _Cloak her_ , if you will. The last time we got her out of some magical protection was through the use of a stone that connected her Love Stone to our apprentice. Unfortunately, her mental condition has quite broken the connection between her and the stone and I'll be quite surprised if she even remembers having it. Therefore, a new method of getting her into the open is in order."

"Me," Percy realised with worry pooling in his gut. "She'll never go for it. The part of Annabeth Chase that fought in the Titan and Giant wars is gone as is her love and attachment to me."

The creature cocked its head to the side and chuckled. "Don't be so certain," It said. "Miss Chase is a half-blood and thus mental conditions must be extremely severe to permanently break her mind. Some can only reach demi-gods if they are driven by powerful magic," The creatures face was now centimetres from Percy's. "But to someone who can feel the thrum of positive emotions in their heart, there is nothing stronger than the pull of _true love_."

* * *

 _ **Lots of context that I considered putting into former chapters but felt would be best placed here.**_

 _ **The story needed to feel like it was dragging for you to get the idea of what Annabeth's mind is trying to do and I couldn't reveal that she was actively trying to make and keep things the same until she was too far away for Reyna to tell everyone something was wrong and start to fix it.**_

 _ **Hope this isn't too much to wrap your head around.**_


	28. Bad Dreams

Chapter 27- Bad Dreams

Annabeth awoke to the sight of a bright light being flashed in her eyes and the sounds of muffled conversation around her bed. A drip was attached to her right arm.

"What…" She groaned and turned her head away from the light. "What the hell?"

The light was shut off and the world came into focus. The face of Newt grinned down at her.

"Alright, Annie?" He used the traditional greeting she had heard so much since arriving in The Den. "Can you see me? Do you remember my name? Do you still speak English?"

"The hell is wrong with you…" Annabeth's limbs felt heavy and her body was lazy from sleep. "If I couldn't speak English I wouldn't have spoken before. And why would I have forgotten anything or lost my sight?"

Newt shrugged. "Well I've heard that some pretty strange things can happen when a person comes out of a coma."

"Oh…" Annabeth stared at the ceiling for a moment before realising what he had just said. "Wait, a _coma?!_ What the hell?!"

"Relax, we got you through it," Newt waved a hand dismissively. "The healer who fixed you up just didn't realise how bad mortal bodies are at dealing with these types of wounds and pumped you so full of nectar and ambrosia that no-one realised you were shutting down. Well, up until you started sweating like crazy and didn't respond when Hermione offered you some water. Then you got rushed over to the medical ward and put on life support."

"Life support," Annabeth looked around at the machines she was wired up to. " _Bugger_."

"I know. It's all a bit daunting, isn't it?"

"Daunting?" Annabeth groaned and shut her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"Just over a week. The chart at the base of your bed says nine days starting now."

Annabeth sighed and opened her eyes. "How long do I have to stay here now that I've woken up?"

"That's for the healers to decide," Newt stood up straight. "I'd better go get them, actually. Don't die whilst I'm gone?"

"I make no promises."

He left the ward and Annabeth was left in peace and quiet.

For a place that was so filled with delinquents and explosions, the medical ward was surprisingly empty. There were dozens of beds that all had their own curtains for patient privacy and everything was coloured white for cleanliness or whatever it was that doctors assumed the colour meant. It was probably easier to spot blood and dirt on a white surface. The floor, however, wasn't white and instead was coloured light blue. It wasn't a carpet, obviously, since that would make cleaning up blood stains and stopping the spread of disease a complete and utter nightmare. The fabric would have to be ripped up every day to make room for a cleaner one and that was something that could only get more and more tedious and unnecessary. It was always better to have a floor made out of a smooth substance that could not hold disease, so definitely not wood, but the whole thing looked rather blank to Annabeth. It could definitely use some colour…

She stopped looking at the floor and stared up at the ceiling.

 _Did I just think like Sabine?_ Annabeth wondered. _No… I'd have to be losing my mind to think like that. And I definitely haven't lost control of my brain._

The whole waking up from a coma thing must have shook Annabeth harder than she'd thought, not that she'd actually had any time to think about it in the two minutes she'd been awake. She shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed without dislodging any of the wires that kept her alive and let her eyes drift shut. If the Fates loved her then she wouldn't drift into another coma…

 _Annabeth stood in an underground cave. The floor was made of cracked stone and the walls were made of obsidian. There were crevices all along the floor that were wide enough for someone to fall into and the faint orange glow of magma emanated from their entrances. Many tunnels that served as halls to other places lined the back wall and on the opposite side of them was a human sized bronze cage. Inside it sat a boy with black hair and sea green eyes, his clothes torn and blood running down one shoulder._

" _Percy?" Annabeth took a tentative step towards him._

 _The son of Poseidon looked up at the mention of his name and, upon locking gaze with Annabeth, his eyes went wide._

" _Annabeth," He whispered urgently to her and scooted forwards in his cage. "What are you doing here? You have to leave. You have to run."_

" _What's going on?" Annabeth asked with a frown. "Why are you in a cage?"_

" _The shades," said Percy. "The shades captured me. They'll capture you too if you don't leave. You have to get out of here before they get their hands on your blood."_

" _Captured you?" Annabeth took another step forwards. "Why would they capture you? They don't need you."_

" _Run Annabeth," Percy repeated, more urgently this time, his voice rising in volume. "You have to get out! Run! Run now! Annabeth, go!"_

"Annabeth?" Someone was shaking her awake. "Annabeth, wake up you bloody fool."

" _Percy?" Annabeth tried reaching out for him but something was pulling her away; the cave was going out of focus. Everything was turning black. "Percy, where are you? What's happening?"_

"Annabeth, open your eyes. Wake up!"

The shaking got harder and her shoulder was jostled about so much that it started to ache. Annabeth groaned as her mind caught up with what she was seeing. The black in her vision was tinged with cream coloured skin. She was looking at the back of her eyelids.

"Annie you have to open your eyes. You can't go back to sleep right now."

Annabeth opened her eyes reluctantly and looked around at Newt and the healers who were in the process of checking various pieces of life support equipment. Her breathing was slightly laboured after the rude awakening and her mind was reeling with new pieces of information joining together inside her head.

"Hey, I thought I asked you not to die on me while I was gone?" Newt smiled at her. "At least you didn't go back into a coma. That means you've either broken out of it and can get out in a few days or your immune system is just-"

"Percy."

"What?"

Annabeth sat up in bed. "Percy… Percy Jackson. I saw him in a cage, he was… he was captured."

"Captured?" Newt frowned. "Who're you talking about? Isn't Percy your old boyfriend?"

"The shades," She looked up at Newt. "The shades captured him. They've got him in a cage."

"Shades?" Newt looked very confused. "I thought they were after your blood. Why would they capture Perseus Jackson when they know they can't use his blood to raise their evil lord what's-his-face?"

"More clones," said Annabeth. "Maybe to get his powers again. Newt, do you have any idea how much damage these people could do with the powers of the son of Poseidon?"

"I have an idea," Newt's face turned grim. "Annie are you sure that what you saw was true?"

"What?" Annabeth frowned. "Yes, of course I'm sure. Demi-gods have dreams about stuff like this all the time."

"And did you see anything specific in this dream? Anything that might tell you whether or not you were seeing the real world or not?"

"No," Annabeth admitted. "But these dreams have never been fake before. Percy's in trouble and I need to go find where he is and save him."

"But you don't know exactly why they took him or where he is."

"Well… _no_ , but-"

"So how do you know this isn't a trap?" Newt questioned. "How do you know they aren't trying to lure you out of here so they can capture you? Annabeth, we have no evidence that this guy was even captured other than your dream and the first thing you want to do after waking up is take off after him!"

"I know it's true!" Annabeth insisted. "And I'm sick of people using my friends to get to me. I can't go out in the open without risking them getting my blood but I can at least try to find out where they're keeping him. Then I can save him and the job's done."

"And what then?" Newt frowned. "They'll just take him back so you have to come out again or kidnap another of your friends to keep you in the open. That is, assuming that they actually _do_ have him and aren't just messing with your head."

Annabeth glared at him. "I know what I saw."

"Yeah? Well I know mind tricks. You're weak, you've just come out of a coma and you're recovering from a bullet wound. There is no better situation for someone to take advantage than when someone's body is weak and their mind is foggy."

Annabeth sighed. "If you're going to keep believing that what I saw isn't real then prove it. There must be a way to determine if the dreams of a demi-god are real or not. Surely you have someone here who could check."

Newt pursed his lips thoughtfully and nodded once. "We do have someone; a daughter of Hypnos who showed up two months ago. She can interpret people's dreams and find out exactly what they are seeing and why."

"Then let's go and see her," said Annabeth. "She can tell you that I was seeing something real and then-"

"You're not going anywhere," A healer interrupted Annabeth's tirade, having finally finished checking the scans of Annabeth's lungs and heart. "Your body is still weak and you may very well end up dying the next time you exert yourself after a serious medical injury."

"But-"

"Lay back down," The healer pushed Annabeth's shoulder softly but firmly and forced her to lie on her back. "We'll have to run some tests in the next few days and once you pass them you will be free to go but leaving The Den is completely out of the question until that wound heals, understand?"

Annabeth was not happy about it but she agreed. The healers all started comparing charts and packing up certain equipment, like the tube that fed Annabeth, and left the room. Newt walked over to the door.

"I'm gonna go get Phoebe," He said. "She'll probably have more success at making sense of you at the moment."

"I'm not some puzzle." Annabeth protested as he left the ward.

She let out a harsh breath and glared at the ceiling like it had offended her somehow. She felt angry and sad and terrible and confused all at the same time. Angry because Newt didn't believe her dream, sad that she was angry at Newt, terrible because Percy had been captured because of her and confused because she was having trouble concentrating on anything.

Seriously, the more she thought about the things that caused her pain the harder it became to focus on them.

It was… strange.

Annabeth hadn't really noticed it before but every bad thing in her life seemed to just bounce right off her these days and she strongly suspected it had something to do with her new carefree lifestyle. It must have lent her more strength than she realised to be free of strings and monsters that attacked every few days and uprooted her life from one place to another.

She smiled to herself.

Being so immune to painful thoughts and having feelings that dissipated so quickly could only be a good thing, especially for a demi-god, and if there was one thing she had learned from life with the Street Rats it was that living a worry-free life was the best thing in the universe. Therefore, being immune to all forms of worry was clearly a blessing in disguise and surely she shouldn't question it if it made it easier to live her life.

But this wasn't easier.

How was she supposed to save Percy if she couldn't focus on finding the shades and setting him free?

For that matter, how was she supposed to find him in the first place if the details of her dream that had filled her with such worry and sorrow were fading from her mind right now.

Was this… was this normal?

For a teenager, being unable to focus on something was a common problem but this… if she hadn't been so concerned for Percy and so determined to help him then she wouldn't have even noticed that her focus had fallen so low.

It must have been a side-effect of living with gods; that was it. Immortals rarely focused on anything with one hundred percent effort and living amongst them was clearly affecting Annabeth's own concentration levels.

It didn't matter, though. A few days out in the world would fix all that and Annabeth could find Percy and set him free before returning to her home and living out the rest of her life where the shades couldn't find her. Yes, that was a good idea. Stay in The Den…

"Knock, knock," Phoebe announced her entrance and walked towards Annabeth's bed. "How's the patient doing?"

"I'm alive," Annabeth replied with a smile. "But that's not always a good thing."

"Perhaps not," Phoebe took a seat in the chair on Annabeth's left. "Newt says you had a dream your ex was in trouble."

"Yeah," said Annabeth. "He was in a cage and said that he'd been put there by the shades."

"But you didn't actually see the shades in person?"

"No…"

"Hmm," Phoebe leant back in her seat. "But you're certain that he really is in trouble?"

"Yes and I need to go help him."

"Except you can't exactly do that right now," Phoebe pointed out. "And we'll have to wait until you're better to get Celia to check if your dream is a fake or not."

"I can't wait that long," Annabeth complained. "I need to know if Percy is in t… if he's in trou…"

Phoebe frowned. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah it's just…" Annabeth trailed off as she tried to remember what she'd been thinking a minute ago. "I can't… I don't remember what I was talking about. Something about… um…"

"Percy," Phoebe leant forwards slightly, looking concerned. "Your ex-boyfriend who you had a dream was in a cage having been captured by shades. What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you are like a toddler who talks about one thing and then goes onto something completely different seconds later," Phoebe looked her up and down. "Did anything happen when you were in that coma? Like… mentally?"

"No," Annabeth frowned. "The healers said there had been no new developments to my health since I first went into it."

"So you could have had this before," Phoebe mumbled quietly. "Can I check you for something, please?"

"Check me? For what?"

"Not important. My dad's the god of healing so I know a little about a person's health and so on. Is it okay if I check yours for a moment?"

Annabeth looked at her strangely but nodded. "Okay… you can check it."

"Cheers."

Phoebe leant forwards over the bed and touched a hand to Annabeth's forehead. She frowned as she stared at it, eyes glazing over slightly as she used her magic to check for… whatever it was she was looking for. Annabeth's spine felt strangely tingly as this was going on and she wondered if Phoebe's godly magic was the cause of it before she pulled away and the feeling disappeared. She did not look any happier or more satisfied than she did before the health check-up.

"That's interesting." She commented.

Annabeth frowned, feeling rather worried now. "What? Did you… find something?"

"Well it's definitely something," Phoebe revealed. "But nothing too serious. It probably happens to all demi-gods actually come to think of it."

"What happens to all demi-gods? Phoebe what did you find?"

"It's just a way of dealing with stress," Phoebe said evasively. "But we'll still have to deal with it. Actually, a few days spent out in the world again might be the perfect way to fix this."

"Really?" Annabeth's eyebrows rose. "So... I can go look for Percy once I'm better?"

"I'm not setting anything in stone," Phoebe said. "Just in case Newt gets fussy over it. Besides, we still don't know for certain if your boyfriend is in trouble or not so it's best if you just don't mention anything again."

"Okay, but… the thing about me dealing with stress, why does it make it difficult for me to remember things?"

"It's extremely common for people in traumatic situation to develop ways of dealing with the memories and remnants of what happened. My guess is that your way has evolved somehow because of the recent dealings with the shades and the fact that you aren't facing them alongside the people you were besties with in the past."

"But you can fix it, right? I don't want to not be able to focus on anything ever again."

"It's not that bad," Phoebe assured her. "Seriously, you're blowing this out of proportion. Your mind has just found a new way of dealing with stress and you're not entirely used to it yet, that's all."

"You promise that's the truth?"

"I promise. Now, if this dream of yours turns out to be true, what exactly are you going to do about it?"

"Find Percy and set him free."

"I can tell. What are you going to do about the shades? How do you plan on killing them?"

"My sword can kill them. Astrid did something funny to it when she built it and now it can destroy them."

"I was asking for a plan of some sort."

"Oh… well…" Annabeth frowned as she tried to think. "I don't really have one."

"Figured," Phoebe stood up and went to stand at the foot of Annabeth's bed. "Looks like we need someone who knows exactly how to kill these shades and how to find any missing friends of yours."

"And who would that be?"

"Why, a pirate of course," Phoebe grinned. "A Lunar Pirate."

Annabeth stared at Phoebe and leaned forwards uncertainly.

"Luna?"


End file.
